The extent of environmental management system implementation in the UK construction industry

Abstract

This paper highlights the importance of an Environmental Management System (EMS) as a tool and a systematic way to mitigate environmental problems in construction industry. The benefits of implementing EMS are discussed thus confirming that they exceeded the cost of implementing it. It is believed that the implementation of EMS in organisations in producing sustainable projects will require active roles and participation by the construction professionals themselves. In order to investigate the extent of EMS implementation in the UK construction industry and obtaining views on these subjects, a questionnaire survey involving 32 clients and client representatives was undertaken. The findings presented in this paper indicate that the implementation of EMS is not popular amongst the professionals in the UK. This implies that greater actions are needed to raise awareness amongst clients and professionals to enhance the quality of sustainable projects in the future.