How can you ensure the use of sustainable building materials in construction?

2 Research your options and alternatives

Exploring the available and feasible options and alternatives for sustainable building materials that meet your criteria is the next step. It's important to consult various sources of information and guidance, such as industry standards and certifications, online databases and tools, local suppliers and manufacturers, and case studies and best practices. This will help broaden your knowledge and understanding of sustainable building materials, so that you can identify the most suitable and viable ones for your project. LEED, BREEAM, Green Star, the Green Building Information Gateway, the Sustainable Materials Database, or the Whole Building Design Guide are all helpful resources to consider when researching your options. Additionally, local suppliers and manufacturers can provide you with specific details and samples of the materials they offer, as well as their costs, availability, and delivery times. Examining case studies and best practices can also showcase how other projects have successfully implemented sustainable building materials and what challenges and benefits they encountered.

3 Evaluate your impacts and trade-offs

The third step in the process is to evaluate the impacts and trade-offs of your sustainable building material choices and how they align with your goals and criteria. To do this, you may want to use life cycle assessment (LCA), material flow analysis (MFA), or multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA). LCA is a systematic and quantitative analysis of the environmental impacts of building materials throughout their life cycle, from cradle to grave. MFA is a qualitative and graphical representation of the flows and stocks of building materials within a system. MCDA is a structured and transparent process of ranking and weighting different criteria and alternatives based on their relative importance and performance. By evaluating impacts and trade-offs, you can make informed decisions about your sustainable building material choices and optimize your outcomes.

4 Communicate your plans and expectations

The fourth step is to communicate your plans and expectations for using sustainable building materials to your stakeholders and partners, such as clients, contractors, consultants, regulators, and end-users. To do so, you may want to use project briefs and specifications to outline the scope, objectives, requirements, and standards for the project and the building materials. You can also create contracts and agreements that define the roles, responsibilities, and obligations of the parties involved. Additionally, consider having meetings and workshops to facilitate the exchange of information, feedback, and ideas among the project team and building material suppliers. Lastly, reports and presentations can summarize the progress, results, and lessons learned from the project and building material selection and implementation. By communicating your plans and expectations in this way, you can ensure everyone is on the same page with your vision and goals for using sustainable building materials.

5 Monitor your performance and feedback

The final step is to monitor your performance and feedback for using sustainable building materials and how they affect your project and its stakeholders. You may want to use indicators and measures, such as key performance indicators (KPIs), surveys and interviews, audits and inspections, and reviews and evaluations. These methods can help you collect and analyze the opinions, perceptions, satisfaction of stakeholders, verify compliance and quality, and identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the project. By monitoring your performance and feedback, you can learn from your experience and improve your practice for using sustainable building materials.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?