Member Article

NBS launches survey to understand the construction industry’s net zero status

NBS, a leading specification and product information platform for the construction industry, has announced its Sustainable Futures Survey to understand current attitudes towards sustainability, barriers to achieving it and, how the industry is reducing its carbon footprint. The survey will collect views from architects, designers, specifiers, contractors, and manufacturers and provide data to help evaluate their impact on climate change and achieve sustainable outcomes on projects. By completing the survey industry professionals will also help to create a new woodland, as NBS will plant a tree per completed response through its ‘Forest Carbon’ woodland schemes.

The ‘Sustainable Futures Survey’ is the latest step in NBS’ ongoing commitment to a greener future , both as a company and as an industry. Having signed up to the UN Climate Neutral Now pledge NBS is actively working to make a positive impact, incorporating guidance in line with the RIBA Sustainable Outcomes Guide. As part of its proactive efforts, it’s also generating informative content around how built environment professionals can achieve more sustainable outcomes on projects.

The idea for a survey was developed in the run-up to COP26. The results will provide a valuable insight into the industry’s status, measuring the importance of different aspects of sustainability, how confidently companies are working towards their climate goals, and the expected time they need to reach net-zero.

In addition, the study will identify the future trends in sustainable architecture and understand how different companies’ demographics, sizes, projects, and disciplines influence the targets. It will explore how specifiers and manufacturers define sustainability, highlighting any misconceptions, and measuring the relevance of the eight RIBA sustainable outcomes that correspond to key UN Sustainable Development Goals . The findings will not only give an illustration if the present and future of the industry but will also reveal how perspectives and approaches have changed over the past seven years. NBS ran the last survey on this subject in 2014.

Lee Jones, Head of Manufacturing Solutions at NBS, says: “Temperatures on the planet are rapidly rising and this is having a detrimental impact on lives, weather, and ecosystems. We are very aware that the construction industry is one of the biggest emitters. We must work collaboratively to become a net-zero industry. At NBS, we are fully committed to sustainability, but real results will only come with commitment and joint effort. The ‘2021 Sustainable Futures Survey’, will help us to explore behaviours and attitudes across the industry, highlight what the priorities and barriers are, and work to find the best solutions”.

He added; “NBS works to provide valuable information for the industry. Climate change is a global issue, and we want to do everything in our hands to support our customers’ to work more sustainably and reach the set goals. We’ve seen first-hand that change is possible. In the past year we’ve almost halved our carbon footprint and this will continue to be a business focus for us and our customers for the foreseeable future.”

It will take less than 10 minutes to complete the 2021 Sustainable Futures Survey and all those who complete before closing date on the 5th of December will receive early access to the findings before the rest of the industry. NBS will plant a tree per completed response through ‘Forest Carbon’ up to a maximum of 1000 trees.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Candela .