However, this is changing as the industry is recognising what it needs to do to become more sustainable, by placing environmental impact at the heart of large-scale infrastructure and construction projects. 

Developments in waste management, green buildings, and environmentally friendly materials are leading construction towards a more sustainable future. Additionally, with the opportunity to work in more sustainable careers, there are numerous opportunities for people to get involved in the green revolution taking place in construction.  

Why is sustainability in construction important? 

Sustainability in construction is important because the construction industry is a major contributor to global carbon emissions.  

It is estimated that 30% of the UK’s emissions come from the built environment. Embodied emissions – by which we mean the carbon involved in building materials, their transportation and the construction process itself – makes up 7% of this figure. Construction is committed to reducing the industry’s impact on the environment, by using more sustainable building materials and technology that reduces waste, allocates resources more efficiently and optimises energy consumption. 

Construction can become more environmentally friendly with the government, industry and education working closely together to meet the challenges of a low carbon economy, ensuring a smooth transition for workers to retrain in greener construction careers, and constructing more net zero buildings.  

Challenges to sustainability in construction 

Resources 

Perhaps the biggest challenge to green construction is changing the resources that are used within the industry. Standard building materials are cheaper than sustainable or low-carbon alternatives, and there are huge vested interests to keep building the same way. Training staff to use sustainable technology, and to become skilled in different construction methods, is expensive. 

Land usage 

The construction industry has to adapt and build in a way that has less negative environmental impact on the land. It also needs to choose more carefully the type of land it builds on, from green belts to brownfield sites, and ensure that the land can be used in a positive way, such as contributing to the building’s energy production. 

Water usage  

Construction uses a significant amount of water in its processes, with much of it wasted or not used as efficiently as it could be. Run-off or waste water can escape into and contaminate water sources, if not controlled. Construction companies also need to be educated on how water can be better utilised once a building is operational. For example, rainwater can be harvested and stored as a groundwater source to be used in air conditioning and heating systems. 

Energy consumption  

Using renewables to generate energy for buildings may seem less and less like a new idea, but there is still some way to go before it becomes standard practice in the construction industry. Solar panels, ground source heat pumps, wind turbines, geothermal wells, water recycling – all these methods of heating and cooling buildings can make a huge difference to a building’s operational carbon emissions. 

What is a net zero building?  

A carbon neutral building or net zero building is one that in its construction and operational life, has not had a negative impact on its environment. If a net zero building has generated carbon emissions, then these have been less than the amount of carbon that the building has removed from the atmosphere.   

Benefits of net zero buildings 

Net zero carbon construction has clear benefits, both for the people that occupy these buildings and for the wider environment:   

  • With every net zero building, carbon emissions fall   

  • Energy efficient buildings cost less to heat   

  • Sustainable buildings are usually more comfortable places in which to live and work   

  • They hold their value over less efficient buildings   

Challenges of net zero buildings 

The challenges are clear, too, however:  

  • Net zero carbon construction is more expensive than standard construction  

  • Up-front costs can put developers off   

  • Retrofitting buildings will take decades to have an impact on sustainability  

  • Embodied emissions are harder to control than operational emissions 

Embodied and operational emissions 

Embodied carbon emissions are those that are generated through construction activity. It includes the way that building materials are sourced and transported, and what happens at the construction site itself. Carbon offsetting can be used to reduce the impact of embodied emissions, as it is more difficult at present to achieve net zero during the construction phase.   

Operational emissions relate to the carbon that is emitted by a building during its day-to-day life. In other words, how much energy does it consume, particularly from non-renewable sources, relative to what it produces? While still challenging, limiting operational emissions is becoming a feature of building design and one that is only going to increase in the future.   

Famous net zero buildings 

The Edge, Amsterdam, Netherlands

The Edge, Deloitte’s HQ in Amsterdam, is not only one of the smartest and most connected buildings in the world (‘a computer with a roof’), but it is also one of the most sustainable. The Edge achieved a score of 98.4% from BREEAM, the UK’s environmental accreditation methodology, the highest rating it has ever given. The solar panels on the south side of the building deliver more energy than the building consumes, and the Edge is heated by groundwater sources that keep the building heated or cooled depending on the season. 

The Edge building in Amsterdam at twilight

Passivhaus Council Housing, York 

Passivhaus is a housing standard based on the principle of energy efficiency and reducing a building’s ecological footprint. Passivhaus buildings are designed so that heat loss is kept to a minimum, and they meet their energy needs through a combination of high levels of insulation, airtight building materials and passive heat sources. The council housing schemes being developed in York achieve Passivhaus certification through their use of air-source heat pumps and solar photovoltaic panels. 

The Unisphere, Maryland, US 

United Therapeutics are at the cutting edge of biotechnology, and they wanted their building in Silver Spring, Maryland to be equally as innovative in terms of its green credentials. The Unisphere building is at the time of publication the world’s largest net zero commercial building, at 135,000 square feet. Among its innovations are nearly 3,000 solar panels, 52 geothermal walls, daylight harvesting, a thermal pool and windows that open or close automatically to aid the natural ventilation of the building.   

The Venus, Manchester 

Built by Peel L&P, a construction company with an emerging portfolio of net zero buildings, the Venus is a glass-fronted office development in the Trafford area of Manchester. It was one of several buildings in the North West of England to be independently verified as net zero according to the UK Green Building Council’s definition. 100% of its waste is either recycled or used for energy recovery, and it has a BREEAM rating of ‘very good’.  

The Floating Office, Rotterdam, Netherlands  

The Floating Office is exactly that – a three-storey building constructed on concrete barges that will allow it to float in the Rijnhaven, a former industrial part of the Maas river in Rotterdam. It was conceived as the HQ of the Global Center on Adaptation, in order to show how architecture could adapt to climate change. If sea levels rise the Floating Office can move with them, and the building provides its own electricity and water supply. One of its principal materials is cross-laminated timber, which is light, floats and retains CO2.  It was opened in 2021.   

Powerhouse Telemark, Porsgrunn, Norway

The Norwegian architects Snøhetta have designed a series of ‘Powerhouse’ buildings across the Scandinavian country. The latest, in Porsgrunn, by the Telemark canal, is a striking statement of sustainability. Its tilted roof of photovoltaic cells maximises the amount of solar energy it harvests, and combined with its south-facing façade the building generates 20 times the annual energy use of a household in Norway. It is built to Passivhaus standards with super insulation and a geothermal heating and cooling system.   

What is the net zero strategy for construction in the UK?  

The UK government has committed to achieving a 68% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030, in line with its 2050 net zero target. With the building sector such a high contributor to emissions, several new regulations have been introduced as part of its net zero strategy for construction:   

  • Future Homes and Future Buildings Standards – ensuring that all new domestic and commercial buildings by 2025 are ‘net-zero ready’. This means that they do not require any retrofitting measures to be zero-carbon compliant   

  • Phasing out the installation of new natural gas boilers from 2035   

  • Introducing a performance-based rating scheme for large non-domestic buildings 

Read more about what the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) is doing to help the construction industry lower emissions with its net zero action plan.   

Discover more about sustainability in construction and green careers 

With the construction industry having such a clear focus on sustainability and net zero building, construction workers will need to have a broader set of green skills, knowledge and behaviours, and get used to new technologies.  

There are great opportunities available for sustainable building careers. At Go Construct we have over 170 different job profiles, including many roles in sustainability: