ISSUE HELP TEXT

AIR QUALITY Ambient air can be impacted by pollution from both natural and man-made sources such
as greenhouse gases, soot, particulate mater, and hazardous air pollutants. Pollution can
decrease air quality and affect human health and the environment.
APPRENTICESHIPS Apprentices are aged 16 or over and combine working with studying to gain skills and
knowledge in a specific job. Apprentices can be new or current employees and must be
paid at lease minimum wage.
BIM Building Information Modeling (BIM) is an intelligent 3D model-based process that gives
architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) professionals the insight and tools to
more efficiently plan, design, construct, and manage buildings and infrastructure
BIODIVERSITY Biodiversity simply refers to all living things. The pressures of urban expansion place an
ever-increasing demand on natural resources in urban areas. Halting biodiversity loss is a
huge challenge, particularly in the light of climate change, which will exacerbate many of
the adverse drivers.
DESIGN FOR DFMA is the combination of two methodologies; Design for Manufacture, which means the
MANUFACTURE design for ease of manufacture of the parts that will form a product, and Design for
AND ASSEMBLY Assembly, which means the design of the product for ease of assembly.
(DFMA)
EMPLOYMENT, There are a number of issues that we must consider such as the terms under which people
SKILLS AND are employed (e.g. use of zero hours contracts, working time directives) the wages we pay
ETHICS (e.g. minimum wage, living wage) and how we develop the skills we need within our
workforce (e.g. apprenticeships, training). We should consider the conditions in which
people work (addressed, for example, by gangmaster regulations and the Modern Slavery
Act) and how we make sure that everyone is treated with equality, fairness, inclusion and
respect.
ENERGY AND Building regulations and energy performance certificates are vital tools in reducing
CARBON emissions across the business and public sectors. Carbon emissions from day to day use
are however only part of the story, we must also consider the embodied carbon that is
the amount of carbon released from material extraction, transport, manufacturing, and
related activities.
ENVIRONMENTAL Environmental management systems (EMS) are set out to ensure that organisations can
MANAGEMENT identify their legal environmental obligations. They also identify the sources of
environmental impacts, as well as how to mitigate their associated risks and report any
progress being made.
FAIRNESS, Clients and large contractors are working together to develop a culture of Fairness,
INCLUSION & Inclusion and Respect (FIR) within their workplaces. This includes promoting equality and
RESPECT (FIR) diversity and combating discrimination.
INNOVATION Innovation can also be about the adoption of new processes and systems at societal level.
Sustainable innovation is a process where sustainability considerations (environmental,
social, financial) are integrated into company systems from idea generation through to
research and development (R&D) and commercialisation.
LEAN Lean construction is a combination of operational research and practical development in
CONSTRUCTION design and construction with an adaption of lean manufacturing principles and practices to
the end-to-end design and construction process. This approach tries to manage and
 improve construction processes with minimum cost and maximum value by considering
customer needs
LOCAL Addressing social, community and local issues could include creating targeted
COMMUNITY AND recruitment and training plans, which explain exactly what people and skills will be
ECONOMY required on a project and how the company will make sure that people from a wide range
of backgrounds (e.g. local people, unemployed people, young people) will have the
opportunity to apply for them, as well as hiring apprentices.
MANAGEMENT The activities of setting the strategy of an organization and coordinating the efforts of its
employees (or of volunteers) to accomplish its objectives through the application of
available resources, including project management, supply chain management, marketing
and business development.
MATERIALS The UK construction industry uses more than 400 million tonnes of materials every year,
making it the nations largest consumer of natural resources. As an industry, we need to
reduce the impact of the materials used, address issues of embodied impacts of the
materials used, consider lifecycle impacts and explore the advantages of using recycled or
secondary materials.
MODERN SLAVERY Contemporary slavery, also known as modern slavery, refers to the institutions of slavery
that continue to exist in the present day. Estimates of the number of slaves today range
from around 21 million29 million to 46 million.
OFFSITE PROCESS Off-site construction involves the process of planning, designing, fabricating, transporting
and assembling building elements for rapid site assembly to a greater degree of finish than
in traditional piecemeal on-site construction.
QUALITY The process of quality management means what your organisation does to ensure your
products or services satisfy your customers quality requirements; comply with any
regulations applicable to those products or services; enhance customer satisfaction and
achieve continual improvements.
SOCIAL VALUE Social value is an issue that has risen in prominence since the Public Services (Social
Value) Act 2012, and is an issue that many companies had addressed previously and
badged as community benefit, social sustainability and corporate social responsibility.
SUSTAINABILITY An approach that creates long-term stakeholder value by implementing a business strategy
STRATEGY that considers every dimension of how your business operates in the ethical, social,
environmental, cultural, and economic spheres.
SUSTAINABLE Sustainable procurement is defined in the standard ISO 20400 as Procurement that has
PROCUREMENT the most positive environmental, social & economic impacts possible over the entire life
cycle.
WASTE The issue of waste can encompass many facets, including diverting waste from landfill,
recycling and repurposing materials, a products life cycle and moving towards a circular
economy.
WATER When we talk about water, we must consider things like the water cycle, water supply,
regulation of the water industry, water footprinting and reducing consumption, waste
water, sustainable drainage systems (SuDS), flooding and drought.