Through our design of buildings and infrastructure we have an opportunity to provide sustainable solutions for the way we live.

Sustainable design essentially focuses on minimising the environmental and social impacts of a built structure while ensuring that it provides a resource that meets community needs. To achieve this the impacts of the construction process must be assessed and the design must reflect the most efficient use of resources both in terms of a structures construction, operation and decommissioning. This is to be achieved while ensuring that the cost of the construction, maintenance and operation of the structure is effectively managed.

Examples of sustainable design

The Great Western Hospital, Swindon

We aimed to design, build and operate an innovative hospital incorporating the principles of sustainable development. This resulted in a design which focused on selecting different building products, devising new methods of construction and where appropriate favouring modular “off-site” manufacturing. These methods consume less energy and materials, produce less waste and lead to long-term reductions in running costs.

The hospital has been designed to consume 30% less energy and generate 35% less carbon dioxide than a typical existing hospital. This demonstrates that through considerate design we can effectively reduce the environmental impacts of a built structure. This also has economic impacts for the Trust, as energy costs will be reduced. Indeed over the lifetime of the building it is predicted that a saving of £1.8 million will be made as a direct result of effective design.

Carillion’s chief executive John McDonough explained: 'Carillion continues to take the lead in our sector on sustainable development, because we believe that it creates clear benefits not only for Carillion and our people but also for our customers, our suppliers and the local community.

In 2002, we further developed our ability to offer sustainable solutions that not only incorporate best environmental and social practice, but also reduce whole life costs and improve value for money'.

Please complete a feedback form should you wish to receive further information on the sustainable development initiatives that were included within the design of the Great Western Hospital.

The University of Hertfordshire

This project incorporated several sustainable development initiatives within the design and construction of the new student facilities. An overview of the initiatives is detailed below;

Energy

Water

We have been able to use our design knowledge to increase the generation and therefore use of non fossil fuel energy.

Crown House Engineering (CHE) designed and built 35.2MW of Landfill Gas Power Generation Plant under the ‘Non Fossil Fuel Agreement’. These plants produce 10% of the total electricity generated from landfill gas within the UK and we have plans under the Renewable Obligation 2002, to design and build further plants, which range from 2MW to 6MW capacity.

We are also involved in the design and development of the UK's first large Municipal Recycling Facility, which will be capable of processing 100,000 tonnes of waste/year. When the design and development are completed this will result in a 40% - 50% reduction of waste sent to landfill, thus helping the UK to meet the EC Landfill Directive (1999/31/EC).

Summary

We are often restricted in our designs by client requirements and / or late involvement in a project, therefore we shall continue to seek to demonstrate to our clients and fellow designers that the design and then construction of sustainable buildings and infrastructure are key to establishing sustainable communities. Indeed, we shall continue to highlight the projects where we have been able to incorporate sustainable design initiatives to demonstrate to our clients, project managers and suppliers that there is a real business case for sustainable development.