‘CAB's role in today's construction market

by Justin Ratcliffe, chief executive

In a recent interview with the Council for Aluminium in Building, its Chief Executive, Justin Ratcliffe was asked about the Association’s activities in the construction sector relating specifically to aluminium and sustainability.

What aluminium and sustainability projects are CAB currently working on?

Whether we like it or not, sustainability runs through just about everything we do, it’s simply inescapable. Within the supply chain we must be able to deal with the questions set by architects, specifiers, consultants, contractors and clients, draw on targets set for the future and highlight ongoing work and progress to date. Clearly trade associations such as CAB have an important role to play in all of this which is demonstrated by four current projects we are involved in:

CAB is currently undertaking a project with BRE to update aluminium’s generic environmental profiles. In this work we are being supported by the International Aluminium Institute (IAI) and the UK Aluminium Federation. Data has been supplied by both European Aluminium Association (EAA) and IAI.

CAB has been nominated by EAA to be the UK gateway to their Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) tool which is based on ISO standards.

CAB, together with the other material trade associations, is working towards a Defra product roadmap for windows. The roadmap addresses the lifecycle environmental impacts as well as the contribution of window systems to increasing the sustainability of buildings.

CAB is actively working with representatives of the worldwide aluminium sector towards a Responsible Aluminium scheme. This aims to develop a credible and independently verifiable aluminium scheme that seeks to minimise impact and improve performance throughout the aluminium value chain, recognised by the industry and external stakeholders.

How is CAB communicating this work and aluminium’s sustainability in general?

It is all well being involved in the above range of activities but there also needs to be a focused promotional strategy to get the key messages across.

CAB has evolved, over the last few years, the concept of the Pavilion stand with strong sustainability messaging, firstly at Interbuild and more recently Ecobuild 2010 where six member stands surrounded a CAB Information area. With over 41,000 visitors this year, Ecobuild is described as the world's biggest event for sustainable design, construction and the built environment.

At BSEC 2010 CAB provided a 20-minute overview of environmental activities and was also invited to take part in the BSEC TV programme that was broadcast at the show on 25 February.

The Second UK Aluminium in Renovation Awards in 2009 organised and run by CAB provided International recognition for a number of outstanding refurbished buildings – with overall energy efficiency being a key criteria. Plans are already underway for another record breaking event in 2011.

Involvement in key aluminium and sustainability initiatives provides support to both CAB members and the whole aluminium in building sector. CAB has also supported the development of the IAI website http://greenbuilding.world-aluminium.org – a new green architecture website which highlights the advantages of using aluminium in architectural design.

The IAI has also produced the fourth (2008) in its series of Sustainable Bauxite Mining Reports which highlights global data on the environmental, social and economic impacts of bauxite mining operations and their rehabilitation programmes. One key finding was that over the five-year period 2002-6, the average annual rehabilitation area of existing bauxite mining areas is equal to the average annual area being opened up. In this steady state environment, bauxite mining is ‘land area footprint neutral’ and sustainable. The report is downloadable at HYPERLINK "http://www.world-aluminium.org" www.world-aluminium.org .

Finally a copy of ‘Aluminium & Sustainability – a cradle-to-cradle approach’ publication produced by CAB can be downloaded at www.c-a-b.org.uk

For more information on these projects or on CAB’s activities contact the CAB office on 01453 828851 or email justin.ratcliffe@c-a-b.org.uk.