The single largest investor in capital works is the public sector, but it’s the same sector that struggles with some of the fundamentals of sustainable investment.
Key challenges include:
• the prioritisation of construction over operational spends;
• a lack of focus on long term benefits realisation at the expense of immediate delivery pressures;
• a narrow definition of sustainability, often singularly toward environmental (as opposed to social or economic) issues;
• and a fundamental disjoint between sustainability and the investment decision. Major Projects Victoria and AECOM have tackled the issue by developing guidance that explains why and how to embed sustainability into investment decisions. This guidance will (subject to approvals) form a core part of the Investment Lifecycle Guidance – the suite of documents that provide the ‘rules’ for all public capital projects across Victoria. The document seeks to achieve a paradigm shift – away from a mindset where sustainability is something additional and cost additive ; toward recognition that sustainability is simply a vehicle to create a better project.
The guidance focuses on:
• linking everything back to clearly identifiable benefits (quantified or otherwise);
• putting sustainability on the agenda from concept stage by providing a set of prompts to consider;
• gradually building the robustness of the objectives such that they form an explicit part of the business case and the investment decision. This way of thinking is of relevance to all organisations (public and private) procuring capital works.