The introduction of the Site Waste Management Plan Regulations 2008 has brought to the fore a number of issues relating to Construction Waste Management, Site Waste Management and the UK sustainability agenda.
For some time clients have been demanding that their project teams consider, reduce and manage site waste, sometimes to reduce costs of waste to landfill and sometimes to secure ratings or compliance with schemes that necessitate consideration of Site Waste Management ā indeed there are now consultants who have made this arena their specialisation. But now the new regulations inEngland(and Best Practice Guidance in other parts of theUnited Kingdom) have made it necessary for many more clients, who may have differing perspectives on sustainability and Site Waste Management, to grapple with demands made of them by these regulations and Best Practice Guidance. The Site Waste Management Regulations 2008 do not, however, offer any guidance or assistance for clients. Clients are therefore asking their project consultants to tell them what is required of them ā and asking for help in dealing with the regulations.
Whilst there is no requirement in the regulations for anyone to advise clients, (or anybody else involved in a project), about Site Waste Management, there is clearly a need for this to happen and a clear business opportunity for someone to provide such a service.
A consultantās guide to the provision of services relating to the Site Waste Management Plans Regulations 2008 and Best Practice Guidance has now been published by the Association for Project Safety and is available for those who wish to offer the additional service of āSite Waste Management Plan Client Adviserā to their clients or who wish to know more about the whole subject of Site Waste Management.
āAdvising clients about Site Waste Managementā provides consultants with information and procedures that they can use to help clients and design teams meet the challenges of effective site waste management on projects. The guide:
- Gives a concise background to Site Waste Management
- Outlines the costs of site waste and the environmental benefits of Site Waste Management Plans and planning
to increase recovery, recycling, and re-use ofĀ materials and to reduce site waste
- Provides an overview of the Site Waste Management Plans Regulations 2008 and Best Practice Guidance
- Explains the implications of the Regulations and Best Practice Guidance
- Outlines āwho does whatā in different parts of theUnited Kingdom
- Suggests services that consultants can provide to help clients and design teams deal with their Site Waste
Management obligations
- Demonstrates the synergies between these services and CDM processes and requirements
- Provides a step-by-step guide to working as a client adviser dealing with Site Waste Management Plan issues
This āAdvise and Assistā process often parallels the duties of the CDM co-ordinator under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007. The Association for Project Safety, which has in-depth knowledge and experience of CDM co-ordination practice, has used its experience to help develop this āstep-by-stepā guide so that this additional service to clients can be offered by CDM co-ordinators, as well as other consultants. They will then be acting as an adviser to clients on Site Waste Management – a āSite Waste Management Plan Client Adviserā – a clumsy term but it says exactly what is in the tin!
Because the Site Waste Management Plans Regulations and Best Practice Guidance also directly, or indirectly, require clients to make sure that others carry out certain duties, clients will expect assistance from designers and certainly designers will need to consider their obligations in supplying the information required in the Regulations. It is clear that in many instances clients will need a specific adviser to ensure that their duties are properly discharged and that all parties work together to comply with these new Regulations (in England) or the Best Practice recommended in other parts of the United Kingdom. The CDM co-ordinator, who, for most construction projects valued at Ā£300,000 or more will already have been appointed, is in an admirable position to provide efficient and targeted advice to the client on all of these matters and this is the basic premise upon which this guidance is based. On the other hand consultants who wish to provide a separate advice service to clients will also find that this guide helps them deliver that service consistently and effectively.
āAdvising Clients about Site Waste Managementā shows that there are simple ways of harnessing the benefits of the Site Waste Management Plans Regulations 2008 (and Site Waste Management Best Practice) that will help clients with their obligations and duties, assist them in reducing the costs of project waste and enable them to maximise environmental gains ā all of which can be compelling concerns in contemporary project realisation.
Copies of the Guide, priced at Ā£34.00 incl P&P for members and Ā£44.00 incl P&P for non-members, can be obtained by contacting the Association for Project Safety, Stanhope House, 12 Stanhope Place, Edinburgh, EH12 5HH,
T: 08456 121 290, E: info@aps.org.uk, www.aps.org.uk
