Strategy for Sustainable Construction

HM Government, in association with the Strategic Forum for Construction, has published its Strategy for Sustainable Construction (PDF, downloadable here; press release here) today.

I have had a quick scan of the 64-page document and have noted that it now refers to the impacts and opportunities associated with information and communications technologies (ICT). This topic was omitted from the draft strategy consultation paper last year, prompting a written submission from [my employer] BIW (see ICT is the key and Greener than thou posts). As a result, Chapter Five on “Innovation” now has a paragraph on ICT on page 19:

The Government Chief Information and Chief Technology Officers’ Councils have produced two toolkits for Green Information and Communications Technology (Green ICT). A Green ICT Scorecard is available to aid the review and improvement of existing installations and there is also guidance, materials and information on best practice for the construction of sustainable data centres and the procurement of Green ICT.

This paragraph has a link to the Chief Information Officer Council section of the Cabinet Office website, but there is no obvious mention of any of these Green ICT documents, and the site’s search engine does not identify them either. (Update (16 June 2008): On reflection, I think this paragraph does little to help the UK AEC industry understand how its ICT teams might be able to contribute; surely, it could have been more prescriptive? Only if you examine the separate Construction Commitments from the SFfC do you read “IT-based collaborative tools and communication technologies will be exploited”, for example.)

Over the page, on page 20, there is a list of Actions and Deliverables, and the first item relates to the National Platform for the Built Environment:

Complete and publicise the National Platform’s Strategic Research Agenda shaping medium to long term research priorities in Reduced Resource Consumption; Client orientated value; and information technology and automation. The aim is to promote awareness and engagement with the research agenda and influence Research & Development (R&D) direction and support.

This action (for the National Platform and the Knowledge Transfer Network for the Modern Built Environment) is to be completed by September 2008. I was a member of the ICT and automation working party that completed its report last year, including recommendations for wider dissemination of its findings (see my ICT in the construction industry post), so the completion actions here presumably refer to the other two elements.