ABSTRACT
If sustainability is to be achieved there must be a recognition that meeting long-term human social and economic needs will be impossible unless we also conserve the Earth's natural, physical, chemical and biological systems (Advisory Group on Sustainable Development, 1997)
For some time now, governments in the UK have accepted the need 'to make sustainable development a touchstone of ... policies' (DoE, 1994, p.5). Building regulations, pollution controls, waste minimisation legislation and energy taxation measures will progressively penalise developments which fail to address sustainability issues. Projects which take a proactive approach to environmental protection and look to provide both social gain and economic opportunity will correspondingly reap major benefits in terms of cost savings, reduced liability, workplace health and social approval.
