Social hållbarhet : En undersökning av de möjligheter och utmaningar som leverantörer av varor till bygg- och fastighetsbranschen står inför i arbetet med social hållbarhet

Social sustainability is a concept in which relevance is prevailing within the construction industry. In 2016 there shall be a new EU constitution that shall require mandatory sustainability reporting for companies and organisations and new regulations that precedes the current regulation on working environments. The purpose of the regulations is to promote a virtuous working environment and avert the risk of illness due to organisational and social conditions within the work environment. As a consequence, companies need to increase their socially sustainable requirements where primary focus has been on economic sustainability and environmental sustainability. Byggvarubedömningen are a non-profit association that through assessments examine products used within construction practices and the real estate industry with a focus on chemical content of materials and their adverse effects on the environment. Byggvarubedömningen are to implement social criteria’s within their assessments on behalf of their investors which consists of builders, real estate companies and various other participants within the construction industry. The purpose of this report is to investigate how suppliers of products in the construction and real estate industry, which are members of Byggvarubedömningen, work with social sustainability in the current situation. This report highlights social sustainability aspects that align with basic human rights. The goal of this report is to observe difficulties and challenges suppliers of products in the construction and real estate industry faces within social sustainability work and with requirements defined in the supply chain. In conclusion the report shall provide a basis for further studies in the field of the construction industry since there is a current shortage in similar surveys regarding social sustainability. Information has been collected through semi-structured interviews from companies that supply products to the construction and real estate industry to increase a greater understanding of the significance of social sustainability work for the industry. Literature studies about the concept social sustainability and underlying reasons for the introduction of social criteria’s have been made to collect more information about why the subject is relevant today. The results of the survey show that suppliers' work with social sustainability are of varying degree and it is possible to discern clear difficulties, but also benefits of developing a work on social sustainability. The survey also shows that all companies participating in the study have a positive attitude towards having their products being assessed in terms of social sustainability in the future. Major companies expressed that it would be difficult to track their products processes all the way to the extraction of raw materials, whilst the smaller companies informed that it would not be as onerous. & Further studies with more extensive interviews should be conducted to generate a more detailed comparison between product groups and also generate a broader understanding of the situation in the construction industry today