JCT puts sustainability into every contract

The Joint Contracts Tribunal (JCT) has amended and re-published its contracts to include new sustainability provisions.

Published by Sweet and Maxwell, the new versions will start to become available from bookshops this month.

The decision by JCT to extend the green provisions within its contracts followed an industry-wide consultation last year, several months of drafting and consultation from across the property and construction industries, and publication of its sustainability guidance Building a sustainable future together earlier this year.

JCT chairman, Peter Hibberd, said: "With almost half of all CO2 emissions coming from buildings, and the construction process itself being particularly wasteful, JCT recognised a need, and an opportunity, to help improve the performance of the construction and property industries".

The sustainability clauses and accompanying guidance do not seek to impose rigid criteria upon parties, or strict targets.

Instead they introduce a framework under which the contract can encompass sustainability.

The guidance document stresses that the client's commitment and the early involvement of the supply chain are essential to achieve sustainability both in the design and construction processes.

The clauses and guidance notes specify a range of contractual provisions that could be selected, including value engineering to encourage design efficiency; requirements to reduce, reuse and recycle; limiting waste; saving energy and water; reducing emissions, and; using sustainable materials and products.

Which ones are used depends ultimately on the client organisation.

It will determine the approach and what targets it wishes to adopt.

Whatever the choices, they should be set out so they can be assessed objectively and so performance indicators can be used in conjunction with them.

A number of indicators are suggested including waste, energy consumption, energy generation, mains water consumption, CO2 emissions, use of materials from non-renewable sources, commercial vehicle movements, biodiversity, ecologically valuable habitat, whole life performance, health and safety, and training.

"JCT is not attempting to be prescriptive," continued Peter Hibberd, "but rather to provide an appropriate contractual framework for users to adopt, one that will be a constant reminder of the need to address sustainability.

The framework recognises that contract conditions play a part but also that contract documentation will deal with sustainability in other ways e.g specification, drawings.

It also acknowledges that each project is unique and each client may wish to set different requirements.

Some of those may be absolute but many will be monitored against performance benchmarks".

Adam Williamson, head of professional standards at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), said: "Major steps forward have been made in improving the sustainability of buildings through design, but less has been done to address sustainability in terms of product specification and the construction process itself.

The RIBA is pleased to support the JCT in the provision of a framework under which employers can improve sustainability in these areas, and will continue to work with the JCT to improve their full suite of construction contracts at every opportunity".

Liz Peace, chief executive of the British Property Federation, said: "With the majority of building projects using JCT forms of contract, the potential impact of what JCT has done is enormous - if parties to these contracts improve sustainability by only a small percentage, the cumulative impact would make it very worthwhile".

Derek Baillie, director of project management (Feasibility) for Land Securities Group PLC,"Land Securities understands the benefits improved sustainability can bring to a building and its occupiers and it's an area which we have been leading on for some time now.

"We therefore fully support the introduction of contractual obligations into the JCT suite of building contracts which relate to sustainability and corporate social responsibility issues.

Our retail led mixed use developments were some of the first schemes in the UK to have been procured on the basis of an amended JCT Form of Building Contract ("Design and Build") and currently, clauses are introduced which require compliance with Land Securities' targets and objectives which are clear, unambiguous and attainable".

Norman Fiddes, chairman of the Scottish Building Contracts Committee, said: "The JCT should be congratulated for being the first contract authoring body to address the issue of sustainability in standard contracts".

The new guidance note is available from specialist bookshops such as RICS (www.ricsbooks.com), RIBA (www.ribabookshops.com), the Building Bookshop (www.buildingcentrebookshop.co.uk) or the Institute of Civil Engineers (www.ice.org.uk).

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