NBS launches Sustainable Futures survey

The new survey from NBS hopes to provide a clearer understanding of attitudes and behaviours around sustainability across the industry.

The survey will collect views from built environment professionals and provide data to help evaluate their impact on climate change and achieve sustainable outcomes on projects. By completing the survey industry professionals will also help to create a new woodland, as NBS will plant a tree per completed response through its 'Forest Carbon' woodland schemes.

The 'Sustainable Futures Survey' is the latest step in NBS' commitment to a greener future, both as a company and as an industry. As part of its efforts, it is also generating information around how built environment professionals can achieve more sustainable outcomes on projects.

The results from the survey will provide a valuable insight into the industry's status, measuring the importance of different aspects of sustainability, how confidently companies are working towards their climate goals, and the expected time they need to reach net-zero, NBS says.

In addition, the study hopes to identify the future trends in sustainable architecture and understand how different companies' demographics, sizes, projects, and disciplines influence the targets. It will explore how specifiers and manufacturers define sustainability, highlighting any misconceptions, and measuring the relevance of the eight RIBA sustainable outcomes that correspond to key UN Sustainable Development Goals. 

NBS last ran a survey on this subject in 2014 and hope this will reveal how perspectives and approaches have changed over the past seven years.

Lee Jones, Head of Manufacturing Solutions at NBS, says: "Temperatures on the planet are rapidly rising and this is having a detrimental impact on lives, weather, and ecosystems. We are very aware that the construction industry is one of the biggest emitters. We must work collaboratively to become a net-zero industry. At NBS, we are fully committed to sustainability, but real results will only come with commitment and joint effort. The '2021 Sustainable Futures Survey' will help us to explore behaviours and attitudes across the industry, highlight what the priorities and barriers are, and work to find the best solutions."

To complete the survey click here. It will take less than 10 minutes and closes on 5 December.