environmental issues

No longer an 'option' for a building project, the range of environmental factors that must be considered, not only by law, but by popular public opinion are growing every day.

Various statistics from around the world place the impact of the construction industry on climate change as one of the main contributors to the negative effects being experienced worldwide. It is impossible to disagree with this after you have seen a construction project in action, and then think about the ongoing impact a building has on the environment.

A construction project has a number of major areas where it impacts the environment around us:

• land use - the effect on a 'site', neighbours and the local community
• materials use - where they come from, how are they made and from what raw materials, the effect of materials on the occupants of a building, as well as materials reuse.
• waste generation and disposal - during construction there is the potential for large amounts of waste to be generated
• energy consumption - during construction, the emboddied energy of a building, and the consumption of energy for a buildings operation
• greehouse gas emissions - during construction & for the life of a building for both the physical construction but also for things such as transport of materials to your site.

Aspect Architecture has always been about sensible buildings focused around passive environmental design thinking. We aim to use low impact materials where possible and reduce energy usage, as well as provide a building that lasts a long time ensuring its impact on the environment is reduced long term.

For us, every project is different in terms of how much a client would like to focus on the environmental aspects of their project. Wherever possible, we encourage discussion and consideration of these points, but ultimately it is the client's choice how much time and budget will be spent. There is no doubt some of these factors will affect your budget, because government legislation now requires certain things to be included in both new and renovation projects.

The scale of information available on environmental factors related to buildings is immense already and continuing to growe at an accerated pace - what we believe is that common sense should prevail and whatever can be done within the overall budget and project goals should be, and if we can build in the flexibility for future work to be done, then all the better.