TRANSFORM 2024: Katherine Featherstone, senior manager of responsible products and materials at Green Building Council of Australia, brought together five experts to elucidate key steps of the built environment’s sustainable supply chain.
The lineup comprised: Sarah Slattery, chief executive officer of quantity surveyors Slattery; David Rowlinson from WoodSolutions; David Baggs, CEO of Global GreenTag International; Cyril Giraud, head of sustainability at Holcim Australia & New Zealand; Chris Mackenzie, head of transactions and development – industrial at Dexus; and David Bell, manager of sustainability and insight at InfraBuild Steel.
The future of our built environment is being sketched out right here, and your voice matters in its design.
This wasn’t just a conference session; it was a blueprint for a sustainable future in construction, inviting everyone to play a part in shaping a greener world. Why should you care? Because the future of our built environment is being sketched out right here, and your voice matters in its design.
In today’s construction landscape, the focus on sustainability was more pronounced than ever. Chris MacKenzie from Dexus pointed out that “eight to nine out of 10 customers and investors are quite focused on embodied carbon and sustainability initiatives.”
This shift in priorities was driving a demand for materials and sourcing practices that lead to “better quality buildings, longer lasting, and ultimately better operations.”
The trend towards shorter leases, particularly in sectors like offices, poses new challenges. However, Dexus embraces this change, he said, noting that “from a compatibility perspective, shorter leases are fine by us.”
But how much of a challenge will this shift pose to real estate portfolios? For context, MacKenzie admitted that many of their assets are “designed for 50 plus years.”
Sarah Slattery took this concern one step further: “We really need to look at assets and what can we use, and also what is the next life if we have to build new.”
While retrofitting posed the largest and most expensive task to developers, transparency and certification followed closely behind.
However, David Baggs wasn’t worried.
“Certification is not a big cost,” he said. “EPDs [environmental product declarations] are a bigger cost, but ultimately, you can amortise that.”
This perspective shed light on the fact that while there might be initial costs associated with obtaining certifications like EPDs, the long-term benefits and value they add outweigh these expenses.
Furthermore, Baggs emphasised the significance of digitising this process: “We’re undergoing an end-to-end automation process, the key outcome of which will be the digitalisation of all of our data.”
This move towards digitalisation was crucial for making data more accessible and searchable, which in turn facilitated better decision-making and transparency in the construction sector.
Global GreenTag International’s approach to certification and data management reflected a broader trend in the industry towards greater transparency and sustainability, Baggs said.
Making certification more affordable and data more accessible, were playing a pivotal role in driving the construction industry towards a more sustainable future.
In order to pursue this sustainable future, developers can take immediate action, and two industry experts showed they were pioneering tangible solutions.
The role of timber has come to the forefront
David Rowlinson from WoodSolutions highlighted its impact: “Timber can play a significant contribution to reducing embodied carbon, between 55 and 75 per cent.”
Rowlinson acknowledged that while timber offered substantial benefits, it is not a one-size-fits-all solution. He advises, “Timber is not a panacea for all things, but there are a lot of opportunities where it could, and arguably should be used.”
This balanced perspective encouraged the industry to consider timber as a key material in the quest for sustainable construction, while also recognising the need for a diverse range of solutions.
Two materials, however, are almost always unavoidable: concrete and steel. Cyril Giraud understood the role that concrete plays, but equally importantly, he cares about the biodiversity and water impacts as part of the production process. Despite recognising these issues, there are many ways to mitigate the impacts he said.
For instance the company collects and treats water that’s used to wash down trucks, rainwater is collected to suppress dust and it’s working with partners on wetlands restoration.
David Bell from InfraBuild Steel, on the other hand, offered significant breakthroughs: sustainability. “Our new reinforcing product, our Sense 600 product, reduces mass by 16.7 per cent and embodied carbon by up to 35 per cent in particular applications,” he said.
It is clear that some links in the chain of the circular economy are stronger than others. The consensus pointed to the need for investors, verification bodies, and manufacturers to align to maximise efficiency, but until each party was properly incentivised to do so, each would move at its own pace.