Miljöcertifieringsproblem i anläggningsbranschen Fallstudie CEEQUAL : Fallstudie CEEQUAL

The interest regarding sustainability assessment is increasing in the construction and civil industry, where CEEQUAL is the only sustainability assessment tool for civil projects in Sweden. CEEQUAL is a sustainability assessment founded in Great Britain, launched by the organisation Institution of Civil Engineers in 2003 with the purpose to assess sustainability aspects of civil- and infrastructure projects in Great Britain and Ireland. The certification according to CEEQUAL is based on self-assessment performed by an educated assessor. The assessor gather evidences which should prove that consideration has been taken to the purpose of the question in the CEEQUAL-manual. The evidence is then reviewed by an independent verifier, thereafter the project is assigned an award and a rating. In 2011, the international version was launched and Skanska was one of the first companies to certify a project outside Great Britain and Ireland. The aim of the thesis is to examine two of the identified problems regarding the sustainability aspects in the civil industry today, monitoring of sustainability goals and the time consuming process to find adequate proof documentation of a CEEQUAL-certification. How well does CEEQUAL take into account the monitoring, both during the project but also during the operation and how CEEQUAL can be developed to be more sustainable. The time consuming process is remedied by a reference card, specific for road- and infrastructure projects at Skanska Sweden AB. In the operation manual of Skanska Sweden there is a variety of tools to be used as evidence in a CEEQUAL-certification. The main documents to consider are Project Plan, Risk Inventory, GreenWorkplace and Safety- and Environmental Tour. For Skanska to be more sustainable, they need to further consider responsible sourcing and the water usage of the project, both regarding the products but also the water usage during construction and operation stage. The case study BoKlok Runhälla is a development project by Skanska Väg och Anläggning Mellansverige, where the goal for the CEEQUAL-certification was to achieve at least 40 % of the total score, by only working with the usual tools that is used at a civil project at Skanska. BoKlok Runhälla achieved, after the self-assessment by the assessor, 60 % of the total score. Though, the high rate in this case is due to the right conditions regarding investigations of ecology and biodiversity, cultural relics and stormwater management together with a ground indication map. This was offset by the unsound ground conditions, which means that only a low percentage of the masses could be recycled. The case study shows that the right conditions together with prestudies about the prerequisites facilitates the certification substantially. CEEQUAL contributes to a monitoring of the sustainability work during the construction stage of the project by documentation of the evidences within a number of sustainability aspects. CEEQUAL is certifying the process, that there are procedures considering sustainability rather than the performance, in other words what is fulfilled considering the usage of energy, water, waste and so on. The CEEQUAL manual is designed so that the requirements are met, not how they has been fulfilled or what it can cause. The difficulty is to set up general guidelines and measures of for example the usage of water, electricity and waste. Now, CEEQUAL only rewards if there are any measures or goals, but no target level of it. One can conclude that the CEEQUAL manual working effectively to cover up the relevant subjects for the compliance of the projects. Preparations in terms of plans and programs which facilitates a sustainable work during operation stage of the project is covered by the manual. Though, one problem is that the project only gets rewarded and not penalized, which means that a project can get a certificate without regards to the compliance of the project. Recommendations for CEEQUAL to developed is to work with clear guidelines on target levels in terms of the consumption of electricity, water, waste et cetera and to use mandatory requirements for the projects to ensure a minimum level and that no considerable sustainability aspect are waived. Also set higher standards on the suppliers and the choice of materials regarding life cycle analysis, which should not only consider energy consumptions and greenhouse gases but also have a broader perspective are development opportunities for CEEQUAL. Besides this, a discussion was held regarding if time-limited certification together with monitoring of the sustainability work after a few years is a step in the right direction. This requires a greater commitment from all parties involved, including clients and operators. However, the review of the manual shows that for a sustainable work a major commitment from the client and the designer is needed to create the conditions for a more sustainable work