Construction: low carbon construction processes used during development of new buildings/assets.

Materials: sourcing and use of sustainable building materials when constructing new buildings/assets or when refurbishing existing buildings/assets. Considering sustainable procurement as far as possible. 

Retrofit: Identification and implementation of sustainable methods of retrofitting buildings to improve performance.

Energy control, conservation and saving including energy management systems and, where possible, energy saving measures (e.g. LED lighting, heating controls etc.), insulation, resilience to thermal extremes, energy metering and efficient boilers.

Water: measures to reduce water consumption, including greywater recycling and rainwater harvesting.

“A peer review organised by the Fit for the Future helped to shape our plans for a multi-measure energy efficiency project in a large historic building. This project has now been given the go ahead and is expected to provide savings of £60k per annum. Fit for the Future also linked me up with members who have experience of the Green Dragon Environmental Standard and we are now taking steps to implement this thanks to their insight and support. .” - Mike Potter, Energy Manager and Sustainability Manager, English Heritage

Renewable energy generation could be the use of a combination of biomass, anaerobic digestion, wind, geothermal, small hydro, heat pumps, solar thermal and solar photovoltaics. 

The development and implementation of an internal waste management policy at WWF's HQ has achieved inspiring results. Read more about this in our case study. 

Some of our members have employed innovative waste re-use techniques, such as the heat recovery and water efficiency process implemented at Adnam's brewery described in this case study. 

Mitigation: Reducing any environmental impacts both during and after development of a project. These impacts could be air, noise, soil and water pollution or contamination, as well as land and species degradation.

Embedding environmental benefit: positive additions to a project could be the integration of tree planting, green spaces and meadow development, or biodiversity enhancement such as insect hotels and establishing green walls and roofs. You can read more about biodiversity approaches here.

Integration of resilience planning: what are the projected impacts on your site or project and can you plan for these to ensure resilience? Met office projection data is a good place to start and we have put together the following guide to help you access this. 

Flood prevention and water management: in light of expected heavy rainfall events and heatwaves or drought as a consequence of climate change

Climate risk management: ensuring there is a process of ongoing monitoring of climate risk to your site, identifying the potential risks and hazards and having mitigation strategies in place where possible. 

Healthy lifestyles: integration of methods to encourage healthier and more active lifestyles of staff and visitors/users 

Health demographics: implementing mechanisms that support those with specific physical / mental health needs and demographic considerations to ensure inclusivity

Local community engagement: engagement with and consideration of local community needs and impact and involving the local community in development processes

Infrastructure: this could be the installation of electric car charging infrastructure or considerations such as high quality cycle storage and facilities

Public transport: considerations such as the integration and enhancement of bus, cycle and walking routes, incentives for car-sharing and provision of on-site information to encourage behaviour change

There are existing schemes and incentives available to support sustainable transport planning and delivery, including government grants. 

Conservation: clear processes in place to ensure all measures to enhance sustainability complement or do not risk the conservation or heritage attributes of the project.

Strategies and plans: these reflect how the project will address sustainability issues.

Developing a sustainability strategy can help you to set out goals and intentions, and plans for how to achieve them. It can also help you communicate these objectives to stakeholders and staff.

We have produced a basic guide on what to include in a strategy and how to put it together, which can be accessed here

The second part in this series covers how we embed a strategy across an organisation and start to deliver on objectives, and can be accessed here.

Targets: such as carbon reduction or % green infrastructure coverage that are achievable and realistic across the lifetime of the project.

Leadership: including a nominated individual who is responsible for ensuring delivery of sustainability objectives and targets during the lifetime of the project

Monitoring and reporting of sustainability aspects of projects clearly identified and set out. This may include regular auditing of key sites.

Interpretation and communication of sustainable practices used on-site to inform and raise awareness of activity to the public and celebrate success.

Behaviour change: ways to ensure visitors to the building or site use it in a sustainable way may also be integrated. See this example from the University of Manchester.