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Sustainability in Industrial Construction

Event Date

Jun 30, 2008

Type

Conference Presentation - Plenary

Research Team

RT-250

Slides

Topic

Sustainable Design & Construction

DOCUMENT DETAILS

Abstract

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Abstract

The increasing importance of sustainability is making it imperative for organizations in the industrial sector to include environmental and social considerations in the construction of capital projects. These considerations include increases in societal awareness, carbon footprints, and potential cost increases; productivity savings in construction and in operations and maintenance; increasing governmental regulations and incentives; corporate reputation; and business advantage in a competitive market. Uncertainty in the economic return of embracing sustainability will require new methods of quantifying the added value of sustainability implementation. These factors will require those in the industrial sector to increase their efforts towards sustainability on both a corporate and project level. A true sustainable approach to a capital project would require “cradle-to-cradle” thinking throughout the project life cycle from front end planning to ultimate end of facility life, including the operational processes of the plant (e.g., planning, process and facility design, procurement, construction, operations and maintenance, and deconstruction). The concept of cradle-to-cradle is used to imply the next use or next generation of resources after building deconstruction, as contrasted with the finite use of resources implied by the more conventional notion of cradle-to-grave. CII defines Industrial Sustainability as “the process of planning, construction, operation, and decommissioning of industrial capital projects that meets business financial objectives while serving current and future social and ecological needs.” The research team created an industry metric for sustainability practices. The Industrial Sustainability Index Metric (ISIM) was developed to codify and standardize sustainability metrics throughout the design, procurement and construction phase of a project. This metric was developed for the industrial sector, but actually has applicability throughout all sectors. Note: ISIM is still in development at the completion of Research Team 250.

Filters & Tags

Knowledge Area

Business and Project Processes, Project Planning, Sustainability, Environmental & Security

Project Phase

Concept, Detailed Scope, Detailed Design (Engineering), Procurement, Construction

Project Function

Project Business Sponsor, Project Management, Architects & Engineering, Construction, Health, Safety & Environmental, Quality Management, SBU or Corporate Functions, External Stakeholders

Industry Group

Light Industrial, Heavy Industrial

Research Topic

Sustainable Design & Construction

Keywords

Triple Bottom Line, Industrial Sustainability, Sustainable Construction, Maturity Model, Cradle-to-Cradle, Sustainable Design, Industrial Sustainability Index Metric, Sustainability, rt250