The construction industry is a large user of our planet’s natural resources and with more focus on the growing concerns of our climate emergency, construction companies are being asked to reduce their impact by opting for more sustainable construction solutions.
What is sustainable construction?
Sustainable construction means that companies should be using recyclable or renewable materials when building new structures as well as reducing their energy consumption and waste. Sustainable buildings are also considered to have a reduced impact on the environment during their lifespan with elements that have a positive influence, such as good insulation, solar panels and sustainable building materials.
Why does it matter?
The construction industry uses a lot of energy with machinery reliant on fossil fuels as well as inefficient electricity usage, statistics shared by the British Assessment notes that construction is responsible for 40% of CO2 emissions. Buildings are also often erected over wild habitats affecting some of the world’s population of wildlife. One of the largest concerns is the manufacture of concrete which creates a high volume of CO2 each year with around 4bn tonnes poured every year.
How to tackle sustainable construction
Besides making great efforts towards using renewable energy and embedding those processes into construction sites, there are a number of sustainable construction materials that would go a long way towards making further improvements.
- Wood – through properly managed and maintained forests that also provide habitats for wildlife
- Brick materials – mud, wool and cigarette butts have all been known to go into producing a brick that is just as strong as concrete
- Plastic – recycled plastic doesn’t degrade, doesn’t require maintenance and offers a long lifespan
The benefits of sustainable construction
Apart from the obvious reduction in environmental impact, sustainable buildings are often worth a lot more than traditional buildings owing to their positive influence towards climate change. They are also usually cheaper to run saving thousands on energy bills per year.
How QUICKBLOCK can support sustainable construction
You may have picked up on it when we mentioned ‘plastic’ as a sustainable construction material. This is often met with some confusion as plastic is often seen as the enemy when tackling issues of climate change. With plastic’s non degrading properties and with QUICKBLOCK only ever using 100% recycled polypropylene, we think it tackles two of the largest issues we are presented with:
- Recycling some of the world’s unwanted plastic and turning into our interlocking blocks
- Offering a solid, alternative sustainable construction material to build more sustainable buildings
Our interlocking blocks are also designed to provide the user with as much flexibility as possible, locking together to make the most durable sustainable building or to be taken apart, stored and re-built again in the future or in an alternative location. So we can add a reusable feather to our cap too.
We’d love to share more of our product features with you, so if you’re looking for some advice on how to make some simple but effective changes to offer sustainable construction, book an appointment with a member of our team online today.
