Resources

Category Background

To promote the sustainable use of resources, including the reduction and re-use of wastes, related to both the construction and operation of new developments.

A sustainable resource management approach will help to minimise the contribution that both constructing and occupying a new development of any size makes to the problem. This is done by designing the development to use materials efficiently, specifying materials which are reclaimed or recycled wherever possible, managing the construction process to minimise waste produced, and ensuring that waste produced during the build process or by building occupiers can be separated into different types (“waste streams”) and collected for re-use or recycling.

Materials used in the construction of buildings, the public realm and infrastructure have environmental impacts, ranging from energy used to create them, impact on human health and biodiversity, substances released to the environment during use, and pollution when finally disposed of. Specification of materials with lower environmental impacts can greatly reduce the environmental and health impacts of developments, for example it is known that solvents in paints, adhesives, insulation and varnishes can trigger asthma.

Timber has been the subject of high profile research and campaigns, and certification schemes now exist to ensure that timber has been taken from responsibly managed forests rather than scarce tropical forests or using environmentally damaging logging methods.

Our surroundings matter. According to English Heritage, historic settings and buildings encourage companies to locate, businesses to invest and tourists to visit, with market values in historic areas being higher than elsewhere. The historic environment is also a very important component of the tourism industry. Consideration and protection or enhancement of the historic environment (both built structures and their settings) is an important feature of a sustainable development proposal. High quality and imaginative design of new buildings and development that relates to the surrounds and history is likely to have a greater value to people in terms of liveability, as well as financial value.

New developments of all sizes need to play their part in sustainable water management, both reducing the demand for freshwater in new buildings and their surrounds, but also meeting water demand through re-use of rainwater and of greywater (water from personal and clothes washing).

Well-insulated and air-tight buildings help to reduce transmission of external noise, and appropriate layouts and screening within a development further reduce noise levels within buildings.

Research carried out for the Department of Health shows a negative link between noise levels and academic performance – as ambient noise levels from outside the classroom increase, performance decreases. DEFRA note that noise affects concentration and task performance, sleep, mental health and stress.

With these policy issues in mind, this section of the checklist addresses:

  • Protecting historic and archaeologically important features and their settings
  • Reducing the environmental impact of the materials used in construction of the public realm and infrastructure
  • Reducing the development’s demand for fresh water and protecting groundwater and aquifers
  • Designing for noise minimisation
  • Minimising waste

Note: Energy issues are dealt with in the Climate Change section. Biodiversity is addressed in the Ecology section.