Setting The Client Sustainability Agenda
As an RIBA Client Advisor experienced in Strategic Brief preparation, I regularly act as a ‘sherpa’ to non-specialist client audiences as they begin defining the sustainability agenda on projects during inception stage.
This involves guiding Client stakeholders through various decision points that potentially support their value drivers, ambitions, budgets and targets in workshop settings, where decisions taken and outputs delivered form part of the Strategic Brief. Influencing and informing these strategic conversations on sustainability as a front and centre ‘strategic brief driver’ improves and promotes a positive direction of travel towards delivery of that agenda at project level.
Three best practice tools from the industry are used to facilitate the process, foster client confidence and set out the reasoning behind the decisions made.
1 . The RIBA Sustainable Outcomes Guide
The RIBA Sustainable Outcomes Guide contains eight distinct but interrelated sustainability topics for consideration holistically. Each outcome in the framework has an underlying knowledge area, actions and measurement method to help clients understand the unique opportunities each project presents from a sustainability perspective. Adopting an outcomes based approach also helps resolve the gaps between design intent and in-use performance across a range of metrics. This can deliver real and lasting reductions in carbon emissions at project level, by reinforcing the feedback loop between briefing and outcomes.
The outomes are:
1 Net zero operational carbon
2 Net zero embodied carbon
3 Sustainable water cycle
4 Sustainable connectivity and transport
5 Sustainable land use and biodiversity
6 Good health and wellbeing and
7 Sustainable communities & social value
With a strategy to deliver on the sustainability outcomes emerging, its time to set and test them in a wider context.
2. The Construction Innovations Hubs Value ToolKit
The toolkit sets the emerging outcomes in the context of other project drivers such as time, capital cost and quality.
This is key to establishing a starting point for considering the client's sustainability briefing requirements in more detail. The toolkit establishes the value profile by setting the relative importance of industry wide value categories in context, based on a Five Capitals Model. This starts to define which of the eight sustainability topics carry the most weight for the client and where to prioritize effort, resource and attention for best results within project constraints.
As required, scenario testing occurs to understand the implications of alternative outcome approaches, allowing the client to see the consequences quickly.
3. Early Employers Sustainability Requirements
An early set of Employers Sustainability Requirements (ESR) is then compiled to help clients move towards practical strategies.
This provides a checklist of topics, information links, baselines, and target metrics to inform and record the clients’ desired sustainability outcomes on a project.
Drawing on the wide body of publications aligned with the RIBA Sustainable Outcomes Guide, it acts as an entry level ‘requirements sheet’ for clients, their advisers and design teams within the strategic brief. This will be developed further over the concept design stage to align with the clients sustainability drivers in greater detail.
Next Steps
Setting the Sustainability Agenda is exciting, worthwhile and empowering for client teams. The triple bottom line of environmental, social and economic sustainability needs to be considered with care at the outset to set it up for success, understand the impact on viability and deliver buildings that are beautiful and inherently sustainable on many levels by the end of the delivery cycle.
With a pletora of terminology, measurement metrics, certification options and media coverage from vested interest groups, clients do however need to navigate the topic with care to secure the best possible outcomes on their projects. One size most definately does not fit all, even amongst projects within the same use class.
Professional support can greatly assist to map, facilitate and document the sustainability journey over inception stage as the strategic brief emerges. Alvy Projects provides Client Advisory and Development Consultancy services from inception to completion. Expertise includes setting project sustainability agendas with clients then championing its development and implementation over later project stages. Why not contact us today to discuss your requirements?
