Sustainable Procurement for Construction Projects: London 2012 learning legacy
From the start of the bidding process, London 2012 set out to be the “greenest games of modern times”. After the Games the independent Commission for a Sustainable London 2012′s report London 2012 – From vision to reality concluded that London 2012 had succeeded in this aim.
Ensuring that procurement practice was informed by sustainability was key to London 2012′s ambition. The Government, the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), the London Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) and their many partners took an ambitious and determined approach to achieving this.
An essential legacy of London 2012 is to pass on its learning to other projects. A sustainable approach to construction procurement is particularly important given the government’s focus on growth and the role of construction in achieving this.
The experience of London 2012 showed that the goals of sustainability and efficiency often go hand-in-hand. For example, the resource-efficient approach to construction of the Velodrome led to £1.5m savings from the cable-net roof design alone, required about 1,000 tonnes less steel and embodied carbon savings of over 27%.
Guidance for construction and infrastructure procurers
Defra has now published London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games – The Legacy: Sustainable Procurement for Construction Projects, a quick reference guide for construction and infrastructure procurers bringing together London 2012′s learning on the sustainable procurement of construction projects.
This guide is one of Defra’s key contributions to the London 2012 legacy, drawing on the Learning Legacy website and the experience of many professionals involved. Defra has sought the support of key stakeholders like Shaun McCarthy, former chair of the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012, and consulted key non-governmental organisations including WWF and BioRegional.
The aim of the guide is to assist procurers in central government and the wider public sector to manage large or smaller procurement exercises that relate to construction in a way that achieves sustainability objectives.
London 2012′s learning legacy
Two of the most important lessons are that many environmental sustainability benefits can be delivered in tandem with cost savings, and that the right approach to projects of this scale can drive innovation in areas such as design and materials specification.
The tools and methods for achieving these multiple wins can however be elusive. To assist construction projects at every scale to benefit, the guide focuses on setting out the principles that help deliver sustainable construction in practice, and the tools to achieve it. Presenting this information in an accessible way, the guide is a useful quick reference guide rather than a formal toolkit which sets out the process in detail.
Key principles from the guide include:
- Setting a clear and public commitment at the highest level of the organisation
- Preparing thoroughly by consideration of sustainability at an early stage
- Identifying low impact innovative products for use on a project
The guide describes how the ODA took sustainability into account at every stage, including its efforts to find innovative suppliers, the use of a balanced scorecard approach to evaluate contracts, and including contract clauses that incentivised client and contractor to develop sustainable and efficient approaches.
The guide also provides case studies on the use of low carbon concrete as a building material and the innovative design of the Veoldrome.
An extensive list of further resources highlights the wide range of other materials available, including many other learning legacy case studies.
By Maya De Souza, Head of Sustainable Public Procurement, Defra