Construction activities can have a significant impact on the surrounding environment and impact the quality of the air in the building for the future occupants.

Design and construction professionals have the opportunity to minimize the impact construction projects have on the environment. Protecting the natural features of a site, minimizing the site disturbance during construction, salvaging materials for reuse, recycling construction waste, and using resource-efficient building products all contribute to minimizing the environmental impact of construction.

Protecting Indoor Air Quality
Good practice during construction can prevent indoor air quality problems and sustain long-term health and comfort for building occupants.

Protection of HVAC systems during construction and flush-out of the building prior to occupancy are two effective methods of reducing construction-related impacts on indoor air quality (IAQ).

Reducing construction waste
Construction and demolition activities generate large amounts of waste material, much of which can be resued or recycled.

Construction professionals can minimize the amount of waste sent for disposal by including waste management requirements in the specifications, preparing a waste management plan, and educating contractors and site workers about the importance of these activities.

A deconstruction or construction waste management plan can divert materials such as wood, scrap metal, asphalt, concrete, plumbing and electrical fixtures for reuse and recycling.

Separation and recycling of demolition and construction materials also allows contractors to take advantage of lower tipping fees.

Construction waste reduction best practices in action:
Pan Hellenic House at UBC was deconstructed in 2000.
Materials diverted include:

• Wood 47%
• Concrete/asphalt 24%
• Salvaged materials 17%
• Disposal 6%
• Drywall 3%
• Stumps and brush 2%
• Metals 1%

Commissioning and Recommissioning
Once the building construction has been completed, commissioning the building’s systems to ensure they are operating as intended is critical. These systems should be recommissioned periodically to ensure that they are continuing to operate as intended, and will improve and optimize the building’s performance.