www.greenspec.co.

uk

25/10/2009 © NGS 2006 Title 1

1

Environmental
nvironmental
Skills Training
Some thoughts and frustrations
1
 What is Sustainability?
• Its not about the
– resource efficiency
– technology
– materials
– construction methods
• Its about the people that make it happen
or carry
y on with business as usual
© NGS 2009-10 BrianMurphy Skills 2
 www.greenspec.co.uk

25/10/2009 © NGS 2006 Title 1

1

Some
Definitions
Jargon Busting

© NGS 2009-10 BrianMurphy Skills 3

 Sustainable
Eco
Green

Violet
Vi l t
Violent
Violate
4
 www.greenspec.co.uk

25/10/2009 © NGS 2006 Title 1

‘Violet’ Materials 1

• ‘Violet’ meaning:
• ‘any material, construction product,
construction method or building
• unfriendly
y to humans or the
environment or
• whose
h performance
f d
diminishes
h in use
or over time’
5
 www.greenspec.co.uk

25/10/2009 © NGS 2006 Title 1

‘Violet’ Industry 1

• Clients/employers, developers, designers,

Q
Quantity
tit Surveyors,
S contractors,
t t manufacturers,
f t
applicators/installers, advisory organisations,
manufacturer associations
• anyone that does not care about the environment
• or anyone that does not act on its behalf
• Virtually the whole industry
• It has been changing, slowly driven by legislation
• But far too slowly, until now…… 6
 www.greenspec.co.uk

25/10/2009 © NGS 2006 Title 1

Definitions 1

• Green
• G
Greeniesi
• Light
g or Dark Green or Greenies
• Greenie Points: Brownie Points + Green
((all positive)
p )
• Violet
• Light or Dark Violet
• Whitewash: cover-ups telling porkies
• Greenwash: telling green porkies 7
I am a shrinking Violet
 Are you Green or Violet?
• By choice or intention?
• By lack of knowledge?
• By inability to educate others?
• By lack of opportunity?
• By
y circumstances?

© NGS 2009-10 BrianMurphy Skills 9

 Who needs the skills?
Development Control?
• NWOGWs Not without Georgian windows
• y back y
NIMBYs Not in my yard ((stuff my
y neighbours)
g )
• NIMSBYs Not in my Second back yard (stuff my and your children)
• NIMFBY Not in my Family’s back yard (stuff the community)
• NIMFOV Field of Vision (stuff the wind turbines)
• NIMFLBTY Not if my FACTs lie better than yours (Stuff the wind turbines)
• NIMTOO Term
T off Offi
Office ((stuff
t ff th
the planet)
l t)
• NIMLT Lifetime (stuff the grand children)
• NIIDLTA Not if I don
don’tt like the architecture
– (but I did not design it for you, you are not my client)

• NIMSIBOLTY Not if my solicitor is braver or louder than yours (GO-East back down)
• BANANA Build absolutely nothing anywhere near anything
10
 www.greenspec.co.uk

25/10/2009 © NGS 2006 Title 1

1

• Need to educate PIPA

– Politicians in Planning Association
• N
Needd to
t educate
d t on the
th need
d to
t engage
with the environmental agenda
• Need to support the green projects
• Reduce opposition to green projects

© NGS 2009-10 BrianMurphy Skills 11

 Who needs the skills?
• We need to re-educate the whole industry
• Top to bottom
• O
Or there
th will
ill always
l b
be someone tto
prevent the sustainable solution from
happening
• QS will ‘Value
Value Engineer it out’
out
– We need to learn how to VE it in

• Contractors will substitute inferior 12

 www.greenspec.co.uk

16/02/2010 © NGS 2006 Title 1

1

Dualities
in Sustainability
Green v Violet
Good v Bad
Sustainability v Business As Usual

Another GreenSpec CPD file to download soon

© NGS 2009-10 BrianMurphy Skills 13
Sustainable Education/Skills
Training for a future
• Childhood for play v leaning too soon
• Education for life or career
• Education for life v qualifications
• Life skills v exam skills
• Appropriate curriculum v irrelevance
• Education for students v for assessors & league tables
• Informal life long learning v stiff curriculum
• Education for work or higher education
• Life heads v Eggheads (career in quizzes)
• Education for trades or professions
• Job skills v poetry philosophy art and bullshit
• Skills funding for training v training buildings
14
• Student fees to lecturers v fund a building programme
 www.greenspec.co.uk

25/10/2009 © NGS 2006 Title 1

Education 1

• Every future sustainable educational

opportunity should be taken
• Schools, Unis & Skills training must
nurture:
t
– Problem solving
– Care and attention to detail
– Questioning status quo, driving change
– Wastelessness & Resourcefulness
– Stewardship: wood,
wood metal,
metal stone & more
15
– Environmental protection
 www.greenspec.co.uk

25/10/2009 © NGS 2006 Title 1

Egan Skills Gaps 1

• Better management skills

• Better integration skills

© NGS 2009-10 BrianMurphy Skills 16

 www.greenspec.co.uk

25/10/2009 © NGS 2006 Title 1

Stern 2006 1

• “Climate change is the greatest

environmental challenge facing the world
today.
• To meet this challenge
challenge, the world needs
minds capable of creating new
possibilities for meeting our basic needs
such as energy, water, shelter and food;
• minds that can transform our daily
experiences into ones that allow a
p
sustainable development, , safeguarding
g g
our opportunities and the environment for 17
future generations.”
 UK Eco Market: Players
• Culture of Blame
• No blame just get on with it v CYA letters
• Looking
L ki after
ft ffuture
t workload
kl d v currentt jjob
b
• Integrated design

© NGS 2009-10 BrianMurphy Skills 18

 UK GBC Step Research
• The “vicious circle of blame” in the construction
and property sector was also referenced several
times and the need to break it:
• constructors do not build g
green buildings
g
– because developers do not commission them;
• developers
p do not commission them
– because investors do not require them;
• investors do not require them
– because they do not believe that occupiers demand
them
• occupiers do not demand them 19
– because they say that they are not offered to them
“vicious circle of blame”
Nothing vicious Constructors
• Do not build
j
just not sustainable
i bl green
• Developers do
not commission
them

Occupiers Developers
• Do not
• Do not demand
commission
th
them
Green
• They are not
• Investors do not
offered
require them

Investors Centre for the Study

• Do not require of Sustainable
Green Building: The
• Occupiers do
not want them Carbon Challenge,
David Cadman 2000 20
 www.greenspec.co.uk

25/10/2009 © NGS 2006 Title 1

Culture of Blame 1

• The client wants a competent building

• We do what we have done before
• The Architect designs
g an Icon
• The QS assumed the clients wants it cheap
• Th environmentalist
The i t li t ttries
i tto k
keep it green
• We all strive for a second jjob with the
same client
• We all write cover your arse letters
• The project gets watered down in process21
 www.greenspec.co.uk

08/07/2009 © NGS 2006 Title 1

Culture of
Blame
Barriers & Excuses for Status Quo Prevails
down supply chain & up demand chain
Deadlock broken through education & awareness

Another GreenSpec CPD file to download soon

22
 IR & HMC&E Tax income
Fi
Financial
i l Advisers
Ad i S
Surplus
l tot pay tax
t
PLC Investors Investor Income
g
Fund Managers Max Investment Yield
Insurer’s Risk Managem’t Tried Tested Guaranteed
Lawyers Pass the buck
Letting Agents Easy + no responsibility
Developer Short term profit
Client Occupier/User Facilityy + low cost to run
Facilities Manager No worries
Employers Agent Pass-on client’s brief
Project manager Pass the parcel
Design Professionals Icons + Egos massaged
Specifiers Standard Specification
Contractors Butts to kick
Constructors Substitution + Familiarity
Subcontractors Simple job + Profit
Suppliers Profits + No Stewardship 23
Manufacturers Turnover + out the door
 Integrated Design
www.greenspec.co.uk

14/04/2007 © NGS 2006 Title 1

Integrated Design
CPD topic
p

© NGS 2009-10 BrianMurphy Skills 24

 Integrated Design Teams
• One Conductor (Architect?)
– Explaining his ambitions
– Guiding the players
• Getting the best out of them
– Getting the right balance (no one thing overwhelming another)
– Asking for the players to bring intelligence to the whole
• Many players
– Facingg the same direction (supporting
( pp g the ambitions of the p
project)
j )
– Playing from the same music sheet (all equal levels of know-how)
– Working together (towards intelligent building)
• Result
– Exquisite music (Building and services)
• Everything in tune (balanced)
• Everything in time
– Happy audience (client)
25
– Happy, improved players, (go on to influence others)
 www.greenspec.co.uk

25/10/2009 © NGS 2006 Title 1

Integrated design 1

Insulating & Compatible

B ildi F
Building Fabric
bi

E
Energy Effi
Efficiency
i
Passive
Passive
H ti
Heating
Ventilation
Renewable
& MVHR
Energy
 www.greenspec.co.uk

25/10/2009 © NGS 2006 Title 1

1

“Knowledge is of two kinds:

We know a subject ourselves
or we know where
we can find information upon it
it”
Dr. Johnson

or we know somebody
that knows it
27
 www.greenspec.co.uk

25/10/2009 © NGS 2006 Title 1

1

• Many project design teams have a

sustainability
t i bilit expertt
• They sit in the corner and listen and
score the project in their laptop
• “Well
“W ll d
done chaps
h 78%”
• But what for?
• If the designers don’t know it
themselves it will always be shoe
horned in afterwards 28
 www.greenspec.co.uk

25/10/2009 © NGS 2006 Title 1

Architects 1

• Why do architects rarely advertise for

environmental roles in their practice
• Because architects still don’t
don t do that

© NGS 2009-10 BrianMurphy Skills 29

State
St t off th
the
Profession:
2 Architects
Universal Man
v
I don’t do that

30
 www.greenspec.co.uk

25/10/2009 © NGS 2006 Title 1

I don’t do that 1

• I used to be a master builder

• But got board with building, structures,
quantity surveying
surveying, services
services, acoustics
acoustics,
drawing, specification,
• They got more sophisticated so I let
somebody else do that for me
• Now I do Art, Philosophy,
p y Poetry,
y
• They don’t trust me with anything else 31
 www.greenspec.co.uk

25/10/2009 © NGS 2006 Title 1

Universal Man 1

• Today I am an Architect
• Tomorrow I am a teacher
• Wednesday y I am a QQS
• Thursday I am Technologist
• F id I am an administrator
Friday d i i t t
• I have never been trained in management
g
or sustainability
• I am a jack of all trades but am I a master
of one or none? 32
 One Plant Woman?
• Lets focus on one Planet living
• Growth is not the answer
• For all of our growth somebody else has
to shrink
• Lets do the right thing
• Profit is not the only goal
• Educate the children 33
‘Environmental’ jobs are Sexist
• Why has the Environmental’ World got
so many woman in
i it?
• Because the world has been made up of
men at the top
• M
Making
ki a profit
fit att th
the expense off th
the
planet
• And now the women are coming to
clean up the mess
• Nothing new there then 34
Why are there so may part time
jobs in ‘Environmental’
Environmental
• So the men can employ twice as many
women
• To do the job for them and they take the
credit

© NGS 2009-10 BrianMurphy Skills 35

 Why are so many
‘Environmental’
Environmental jobs poorly paid
• Because women accept lower pay

© NGS 2009-10 BrianMurphy Skills 36

 www.greenspec.co.uk

25/10/2009 © NGS 2006 Title 1

My experience 1

• An architects practice CPD (Continuing Professional

Development) lecture last month
• 25 staff and 2 partners
• 25 under 25 y
year olds,, recent graduates
g
• Asked have they been exposed to green in their
education?
• Not one of them!
• Its on the RIBA Syllabus
• But the colleges are not delivering it.
g out the same old lectures
• The lecturers are churning
• The lecturers need the Skills training 37
 www.greenspec.co.uk

25/10/2009 © NGS 2006 Title 1

My experience 1

• Same Office
• Asked if anybody knew the work
Decrement or Hygroscopicity
• One of the p
partners wrote it in an email
that day
• Nobody
N b d else
l

© NGS 2009-10 BrianMurphy Skills 38

 www.greenspec.co.uk

25/10/2009 © NGS 2006 Title 1

My experience 1

• Asked to teach in a university

– Asked to prepare 20 hours of lectures,
– With one weeks notice

• Deliver 10 x 2 hour lectures 1/week

– Pay: 2 hours for 2 hour lectures
– Travel expenses: None

• Add attendance marking

• Add homework setting and marking: for 87 students, no pay
• Asked for more money: 5 hours for 2 hour lecture
– Actually all this took 20 hours per week
– It cant be done!

• University reaction: Well you know your stuff.

stuff You can do it
it.
• Anything will be better than what has gone before! 39
– What do you expect!
 www.greenspec.co.uk

25/10/2009 © NGS 2006 Title 1

My experience 1

• I was offered to 3 other tutors as

‘environmental’ support
• 2 of the senior tutors felt they know
enough and did not invite me
• One third of the students got my input
– the others felt cheated
cheated.

© NGS 2009-10 BrianMurphy Skills 40

 CITB & RC Skills Matrix
• Added Specification Column
• It’s the specification where it all falls
apart
• The briefing and the spec never meet
• One hopes the designers read the brief
• Often its evident they did not
• Architects can’t read
– Without a cartoon to ease them forward 41
 www.greenspec.co.uk

25/10/2009 © NGS 2006 Title 1

Institutions 1

• RIBA
– External Assessors
• 1:20 section (wont learn much from that, don’t do it)
– College Knowledge: (10, 20, 30, 40 years old)
– Alumni: Life Long Learning
– Picture Books not Reading books
– POE into design loop
– Checklists
• RICS members
b
42
– Letting Agents & QS first
Defra Personal Engagement
• Defra ambitions (funded research)
• Tradesmen to educate the clients
• But will they just see them as trying it on to charge
more?
• Tradesmen still have suppliers that don’t stock the
right stuff
• Manufacturers still make the wrong stuff to supply
the stockists

© NGS 2009-10 BrianMurphy Skills 43

 www.greenspec.co.uk

25/10/2009 © NGS 2006 Title 1

UK Skills M&E 1

• Interbuild 09
• Skills competition
• Best of the best from UK wide
• Competition to show skills
• B t sustainability
But t i bilit nott tto b
be seen anywhere
h
• High
g flow taps,
p , showers,, Highg flush WCs
no hot pipe insulation,
• Free issue materials, by stockist
• If they won’t, who will? 44
 www.greenspec.co.uk

14/04/2007 © NGS 2006 Title 1 1

State of the
Industry:
Skill M&E
Skills

Another GreenSpec CPD file to download soon

45
 EU Social funding
Unemployed back into work
• BuildUP (Westminster University)
– Construction professionals retraining course

• Syllabus covers ‘business as usual’

– The Uni knows what it knows

• No reference to Sustainability
y
– Eco has to be part of it
– TGR approached BuildUP and challenged them
– TGR now deliver the 2 day Eco Course material
• SusCon (Sustainable Construction Academy)
46
– Eco Refurbishment: a priority
 CAT MSc
• Expert knowledge at your finger tips
• Is much use made of them?
• How much knowledge migrates into
normal practice?
• MSc at CAT Wales and Cardiff
– 500 students processed at CAT
• Where are they now?
– Consultancies in England? 47
 Knowledge Providers
• GreenSpec provides knowledge
• Materials, Products, Services
Properties and lots more
• TGR The Green Register
g p
provides
training in Green Building know-how
• TGR
G want to support green skills
k ll
development
p and will
48
 www.greenspec.co.uk

25/10/2009 © NGS 2006 Title 1

GreenSpec 1

• 89,000 visitors per month/1 m per year

• Visitors look, see and learn
• But do they just go back to what they
know?
• GreenSpec does not track use

© NGS 2009-10 BrianMurphy Skills 49

 www.greenspec.co.uk

25/10/2009 © NGS 2006 Title 1

MyGreenSpec 1

• Tries to make the next step easy

• G
GreenSpec
S create
t th
the product
d t or componentt
specifications
• GreenSpec
G S research
h the
th solutions
l ti
• MyGreenSpec create safe assemblies
• Architects select assembly of choice
• Selects products for component materials
• The specification assembles itself
• Regrettably the Architect misses a leaning
opportunity 50
 www.greenspec.co.uk

25/10/2009 © NGS 2006 Title 1

© GreenSpec 1

• Brian Murphy BSc Dip Arch (Hons+Dist)

• Architect by Training
• Specification Writer by Choice
• Greening up my act since 1999
• Founder of www.greenspec.co.uk
• E BrianSpecMan@aol.com
B i S M @ l
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/brianspecman
p p
• Scribd: www.scribd.com/brianspecman
© NGS 2009-10 BrianMurphy Skills 53