Introduction
The awareness of the relationship between greenhouse gas emissions and observed climate change and global warming has risen significantly over the previous 30 years . From initial scepticism and denial , globally more governments and business sectors have acknowledged and accepted that some action is necessary to reduce greenhouse gas emissions attempt to mitigate the perceived impacts of climate change ( Stern 2006 , Garnaut 2008 ). Policies and strategies have been debated and launched at all levels of government , and corporate social responsibility ( CSR ) has been taken up by some within the business community .
Construction , which involves the mining , extraction and use of resources , has a substantial environmental impact ( Ortiz et al , 2009 ). The impacts of the buildings constructed vary in terms of the amounts of embodied energy , as well as , water and energy consumption during the building lifecycle . Specification of materials and the resources used in maintenance and repair has further impacts . The built environment in total is responsible for around half of all greenhouse gas emissions ( Wilkinson , 2011 ), although estimates do vary from around 30 % to 50 % depending on what is included or excluded in the calculation . Overall the impact from the built environment is significant , and will increase with population growth and increased urbanisation of the world ’ s population ( RICS , 2015 ). Therefore the way built environment professionals perceive and understand the concept of sustainability is crucial to the implementation of meaningful actions to mitigate climate change .
It is said that sustainability is a contested concept ; in other words it is interpreted or perceived differently by different actors ; it means ‘ all things to all men ’ ( Söderbaum 2011 , Washington , 2015 , Cook & Golton 1994 ). If the concept is poorly understood , it follows that actions and practices may be ill-informed , misguided and ultimately will not deliver the much needed outcomes ( Cook & Golton , 1994 ). To capture the views of those professionals who work in the built environment , this paper addresses the questions ; what is the conceptual understanding of sustainability within built environment professionals and , ( b ) what is the implication of this level of conceptual understanding with regards to delivering sustainability ?
The spectrum of sustainability ; ecocentrism to anthropocentrism
Within the built environment a surfeit of terms encompass the concept of sustainability . For example , green , Green , greener , Gaian , ecological , environmentally sensitive , environmentally conscious natural , and sustainable design or building are some of the terms adopted ( Wilkinson , 2012 ). Such variations beg the questions ; do these concepts overlap or , are they the same ? Are there shared aspects between the concepts and if so , what are they ? Further , is the degree of ‘ sustainability ’ embedded within some concepts questionable ? Moreover is it conceivable to consider a sustainable building in an absolute or a relative form ? By this , it is meant ; can a building be actually sustainable when considering the earth ’ s total resources ( absolute ) or , is it simply more sustainable than a building to which is it contrasted ( relative )? Currently building rating systems such as BREEAM , Green Star and LEED are regarded as being sustainable in an absolute sense . This research elucidates some of these questions . Currently , ‘ sustainability ’ is the preferred term and typically embraces economic , environmental and social considerations ( Elkington 1997 ), although the term was defined initially in the Bruntland Report in 1987 ( WCED , 1987 ). The concept is further informed by political and philosophical notions , considered within the literature review , which exposed distinct attributes and sub-groups which needed to be de-constructed and ordered to
62 ZEMCH 2015 | International Conference | Bari - Lecce , Italy