Construction Management

The environmental impact of the construction process can be minimised with careful onsite management such as implementing waste minimisation and environmental management plans. This represents an important opportunity to save materials and money.

During the construction of a house there is a significant opportunity to save materials and recycle. This also presents an opportunity to save money in materials.

 ...20% of New Zealand’s waste in land fills and 80% in clean fills is attributable to the building industry with a cost of over $80m a year.

It is estimated that 20% of New Zealand’s waste in land fills and 80% in clean fills is attributable to the building industry with a cost of over $80m a year¹.  Landfills use up valuable land area and may also release harmful chemicals into the local environment. Methane is produced during the breakdown of some types of waste; this gas has a Global Warming Potential² (GWP) 21 times that of carbon dioxide.  By employing good management practices onsite construction waste can be dramatically reduced, for example:

1. Designing for standard sizes to avoid cut-offs.
2. Offsite prefabrication (allows greater use of efficient cuts lists and reuse of off cuts)
3. Keeping the design simple.
4. Ordering the minimum amount of materials required for the job.
5. Recycling all site waste.
6. Providing contractors with clear guidelines on waste management practices and ensuring that they buy-in to these practices.

Management of site waste too allow recycling. (Image | Flickr user:daisybush)Environmental management on site is important if you wish to minimise the impact of the construction process on the surrounding environment.  An environmental management plan (EMP) can be used by the contractors to ensure that environmental accidents are minimised and there are effective procedures in place to deal with accidents should they occur.  For example, EMP's often include procedures to avoid contaminated construction run-off entering local waterways.  As part of construction EMP procedures regular checks should be carried out to minimise the chance of accidents occurring.

During construction we will have both an environmental management plan and waste minimisation plan in place to minimise the environmental impact of the construction process.

Design Opportunities Matrix

The matrix below shows the key opportunities related to the construction management in the left column and the project goals listed along the top. The coloured boxes indicate the goals that the design considerations contribute towards. The matrix is colour coded as follows:

•  Indicates that the design feature has a positive effect on the goal
•  Indicates that the design feature has a negative effect on the goal
•  Indicates that the design feature can have a negative or positive effect on the goal

The sections of the website listed in the top menu bar are evolving and details on the design initiatives will be added to these sections as we develop the design and build the house. 

 

	Project Goals
Design Feature	Energy Efficiency & GHG	Low Embodied Energy	Water Conservation	Health & Comfort	Waste Minimisation	Low Pollutant Emissions	Durability
Onsite environmental management [more] Onsite environmental and waste management plans during site works. Reduces waste sent to landfill
Efficient material use [more] Use materials efficiently through planning cut lists and modular sizing of spaces
Waste minimisation and recycling [more] Majority of construction waste recycled. Reduces waste sent to landfill

Footnotes

1. Source to be defined
2. www.landcareresearch.co.nz