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Sustainable Construction and Social Responsibility: The Big Picture

I  was honored to have been selected to speak at a five-person panel discussion on Public Policy, Innovation and Sustainable Real Estate recently. The event was held by Middlesex 3 Coalition in Middlesex County, MA. 

The topic was on social responsibility and sustainable construction, a significant area of interest for private business owners, manufacturers and investors, and a personal area of expertise.  

The construction industry is held accountable at local, city, state, and federal levels for the way buildings are designed and built. Here are just a few of the issues we touched on at the conference and key topics you should be aware of that impact sustainable construction and our client’s bottom line.

Social responsibility is on us all. We stay on top of the rules and regulations around sustainable design.

Many of the current building rules and regulations mandate a high level of sustainability in today’s environment. Social responsibility is on us all. From our perspective as a design-build contractor, this means that we are including the highest levels of energy efficiency possible in our designs, while remaining accountable for sustainable construction rules and regulations that change constantly. 

It’s our responsibility to stay abreast of ever-evolving federal and state governmental regulations that affect all job sites. These are just a few ways in which we apply numerous sustainable design principles in our projects:

  • Identify water collection and distribution options
  • Substitute environmentally safe and economically viable materials
  • Match insulation values to needs
  • Project specific construction waste management
  • Utilize Mother Nature’s fresh air 
  • Identify appropriate recycled materials
  • Explore the use solar energy

Sustainable construction is worthwhile and the ROI needs to make sense

At the end of the day, sustainable construction is a business transaction, and it needs to make investment sense. Building owners and investors want to have a clear understanding of how much the whole construction project is going to cost. 

An important part of our process at Senate Construction is to determine the various considerations for sustainability through cost analysis and design evaluation. As part of our pre-construction services, the building owner or investor receives this information before construction begins so that good environmental and economic choices can be made. 

Pre-engineered and custom metal buildings are sustainable and scalable

The sustainability of the pre-engineered products itself, substantial. There are numerous advantages to pre-engineered and custom metal buildings, but an example would be the use of sandwich panels. These panels are  manufactured from recycled metals and used in a variety of applications in the construction industry, from walls to floor and roof panels. When used, they actually provide LEED certification points. Our designs include a number of credits towards LEED certification.

Pre-engineered and custom metal buildings are scalable. As a design-build contractor, we account for business growth and the potential need for future expansion in the initial planning process.

Environmental responsibility requires compliance, deserves respect and a close look at costs for the best direction.

The long and short of it is that building codes, community rules and regulations mandate a certain level of environmental responsibility. In turn, that impacts the overall cost of construction. Some costs can be mitigated through tax credits and other incentives. For more information take a look at this article in Construction Business Owner, Sustainable Building: Federal Incentives and Regulations, and of course always check with your accounting and tax professional.

At Senate Construction we respect and admire our clients’ social responsibility. We support their investment objectives by providing hard facts and figures in order to make a fair evaluation to provide the most efficient direction for them to consider. 

Click here or call us to discuss your sustainable design-build needs today.

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