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Bluebeam Studio Sessions vs. Studio Projects

Sessions vs. Projects: When to Use One, the Other—or Both

  • Tips and Tricks
Bluebeam’s tool for real-time collaboration, Studio Sessions, and its tool for document storage, Studio Projects, are both invaluable to any construction project, but there are particular ways to use each—and both together—for optimal productivity (from 2022)

Illustration by Jonny Ruzzo

Ever since Bluebeam Studio Projects, which allows construction workers to store and share project documents, and Studio Sessions, which allows for real-time markup collaboration, came on the scene, the industry has benefitted from the numerous ways each tool bolsters productivity.

Still, there are particular instances on a construction project when using a Session makes more sense than using a Project—and vice versa. Moreover, there may be times when workers in the construction, engineering, architecture and operators (AECO) industry may think using one vs. the other makes sense for a specific workflow—when in fact the opposite may be true.

Here are some examples of when to use Studio Sessions, when to use Studio Projects and when to use both.

When to use Studio Sessions

Studio Sessions in Revu has established itself as a go-to tool for document collaboration. Sessions allows users to mark up documents with other users in real time, no matter their location. So long as the Session is created by the administrator, people can jump in and out at any time and mark up documents while also leaving comments for other collaborators. 

This digital collaboration can save a project major time and money by replacing the physical need to transport paper documents between stakeholders. It also eliminates the primitive digital process of emailing marked up PDF documents to several people, then having to manually consolidate each person’s revisions afterward.

The power of Sessions, however, can sometimes lead users to over rely on it or use it in ways that make it less efficient over time. Each Session, for instance, should have a clear time window—one or two weeks per round of revisions. Although it may be tempting to keep a Session open for the project’s duration, the tool is most effective when used in revision-by-revision increments.

Think of a Session as a replacement for a meeting, with collaborators sitting around a virtual “desk” with documents, marking them up and discussing revisions. Once the meeting ends, so should a Session.

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When to use Studio Projects

Studio Projects is a powerful way to store, organize and share documents. For the largest construction projects that require thousands of documents that are accessible to many stakeholders, Projects is secure and effective.

Because of its heft as a storage tool, however, it’s not uncommon that sometimes Projects is used when a Session may be more appropriate and effective.

If a Session is a meeting, where people gather to collaborate in real time, Projects is the office, where everything is centrally located. Documents in a Project can be checked in and checked out, like a book in a library, and when documents are checked out, markups can be made if the proper permissions allow, before being checked back in. Document version history is also carefully recorded in a Project, so everyone knows who did what to a document and when.

This check-in/check-out system works best when there aren’t multiple collaborators. One collaborator may check out and make revisions to a document in isolation, before checking it back in for the next person to see at a different point in time.

But if there is ever a need for multiple collaborators, checking in and checking out documents in a Project becomes overly cumbersome—and potentially confusing. This is when initiating a Session makes sense. 

How to use both

Both Sessions and Projects, to be sure, are ultimately meant to be used in tandem, despite the fact that each has individual elements that make them useful on their own.

The best example is using Projects as a library of documents, which can be made available to any stakeholder who needs access to them. Individual documents can be checked in and checked out, downloaded, etc. Also, Projects can store any Windows-based file—so even Microsoft Word or Excel documents can be stored, checked out, worked on in their native application and checked back in—as well as images and DWG files.

Sessions, conversely, should occur within a Project when stakeholders need to hold specific, collaborative reviews of a document(s)—and those documents are only in the form of a PDF. Documents in a Project can be uploaded into a Session, and for a specific period of time collaborators should be invited to go in and make markups and comments before the Session is ended. What’s more, all changes made in a document in this scenario are saved back in the Project for all to view.

Both Projects and Sessions, furthermore, have the ability to carefully control who has permissions to documents. It may be wise, however, to maintain access to a Project only to stakeholders with ongoing and direct involvement in a build. Sessions, meanwhile, can be used to facilitate input on a document to an external third-party that doesn’t require full access or permissions to all documents.

While most construction workers might gravitate to one or the other, depending on the specific needs of a team or their role, using Bluebeam Projects and Sessions in tandem creates a special type of efficiency that is unmatched in construction technology.

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From Blight to Bright: The $134 Million Transformation of Detroit’s Fisher Body Plant 21

  • Projects
Century-old Fisher Body 21 has been a plant without a purpose for more than 30 years—but it could become the poster child for repurposing industrial buildings around Detroit and elsewhere

Nailhed, a website dedicated to exploring abandoned and decrepit buildings, once described Fisher Body Plant 21 as “one of the coolest hangouts on the Detroit ruin porn circuit.” Trespassers gain a firsthand view of the factory’s decay but also of the city’s manufacturing past in a structure included in the Piquette Avenue Industrial Historic District. Since 2004, this hub for automobile body production in the early to mid-20th century has been on the National Register of Historic Places.

Now, Fisher Body 21 is taking on new life. The plant often described as “blighted” and “eyesore” is the focus of a $134 million redevelopment to create the multi-use Fisher 21 Lofts, combining mixed-income apartments with retail and co-working space.

The development team sees the project as a way to transform an emblem of Detroit’s decline—located at the can’t-miss intersection of Interstates 75 and 94—into a symbol of the city’s revitalization. The metamorphosis of the 600,000-square-foot plant fell to McIntosh Poris, an architectural firm with a long history in Detroit and a wealth of experience in adaptive reuse.

Pursuing place-saving as well as place-making

Finding new purpose for Detroit’s old structures has been on McIntosh Poris’ radar for more than 30 years. Although rebuilding the city has moved slowly, the firm has completed several notable projects, including recasting a 1925 bank building into the techno nightclub Panacea and the Detroit Fire Department headquarters into the boutique Detroit Foundation Hotel.

Southside Aerial view, Rending courtesy of McIntosh Poris Architects.

“We work to keep these buildings intact and delay the wrecking ball as much as we can,” said John Skok, principal at McIntosh Poris. But he cautions against starting adaptive reuse with a rigid idea. “You have to do the due diligence to analyze the building’s condition, place and context before you impose a new use on it. We also engage in a community benefit interaction with the city’s planning department to ensure a project will be a catalyst for development in the neighborhood.”

From custom-crafted to steel-stamped

A look back at the plant’s history shows it was one of the first poured concrete structures in Detroit, with walls of windows that brought natural light to deep recesses. Soon after its 1919 completion, the auto industry shifted from using wooden bodies meticulously assembled by skilled carpenters to steel bodies stamped out by unskilled laborers working a hydraulic press.

During the Great Depression, the plant served as a soup kitchen and homeless shelter, then retooled to build artillery and airplane components for World War II. From 1956 until General Motors closed the factory in 1984, the plant produced Cadillac limousine bodies. After a few paint companies used the structure, it sat empty for decades.

The façade crumbled, vagrants broke out windows and a fire partially collapsed an elevator shaft. Although numerous potential developers considered the building for everything from a manufacturing facility to a nightclub, it took a perfect storm of city, community, developers and architects to find a reason for the structure’s existence that would pencil out. The financing relies, in part, on historic tax credits that require Fisher 21 Lofts to retain the building’s original character.

Slicing up a 3D grid to add a fourth dimension

The redevelopment started with structural testing and environmental reviews—along with remediation to remove lead and asbestos—to ensure the plant can be safely converted into housing. When this phase is finished, the team will have an open canvas in three dimensions, with huge concrete slabs, ceilings and columns creating a rigorous geometry. But a fourth dimension comes into play as well.

“In multifamily, you really can’t have long, deep units, so a key was bringing light and air into the building,” Skok said. That led to the decision to insert three atriums to break the massive floorplates into more accessible pieces. Cutting holes in the building required permission from the historic district and National Park Service, but fortunately, there was precedent in other projects that used historic tax credits to finance an adaptive reuse project.

 West Atrium View, Rendering courtesy of McIntosh Poris Architects.

Design that improves lives

In 2015, Detroit was named the first North American City of Design by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, making it one of more than 40 cities worldwide recognized for using design to improve the lives of everyday people. That includes ensuring a more equitable and sustainable future for residents.

Fisher 21 Lofts reflects these goals. For example, 20% of the units will be offered to income-eligible residents at below-market rates. And adaptive reuse is inherently sustainable given the carbon embodied in the original structure. Revitalizing the Fisher Body Plant represents an enormous reduction in emissions compared with constructing a new building of the same size.

In addition, the project achieves a long-held idea of what historically and culturally sensitive restoration in the city should be. Back in 1995, Michael Poris and then-Mayor Dennis Archer met to discuss downtown development strategies. Their second agenda item described “an environment that tells not only where Detroit is going, but where it has been, and why this is important to who we are today.” Fisher 21 Lofts is the embodiment of that vision.

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China Folk House

How a Yunnan Courtyard House Found a New Home in Harpers Ferry

  • Projects
The China Folk House in Harpers Ferry showcases traditional Chinese architecture, bringing together a diverse community through a remarkable preservation project

Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, is the last place you’d expect to see a traditional Chinese homestead. But that’s just what you’ll find at China Folk House, a traditional structure that a team of preservation-minded students brought over from Yunnan province and rebuilt in their own backyard.

Built spoke to educator John Flower, vice chair and co-founder of the China Folk House, about this monumental endeavor and the surprising ways the house is bringing a diverse community together.

A Surprising Encounter

Flower first encountered the house on a trip to China with his students. “I was doing a semester-long program in Dali, in northwest Yunnan,” he said. “We lived in an old courtyard house, and we would just study local architecture and temples, and we had the kids apprentice with craftsmen. It was pretty amazing.”

As part of the trip, Flower and his students would travel throughout the region. Passing through an area by the Mekong River that would soon be covered by flooding due to the construction of a new dam, they met a local.

“I said to him, ‘Oh man, it’s a shame your house is going to be flooded. I wish I could just take it home with me,’ just being polite,” Flower explained. “And he said, ‘OK, well, we can do that.” It was a surprising idea, but Flower was immediately on board.

The house being rebuilt in West Virginia.

While the house was hand built using traditional construction techniques, it wasn’t as it seemed. “It’s a beautiful thing, but it’s very folky. It’s real folk architecture, folk craft, but it’s not old,” Flower said. “So the wood is in really good condition, and it’s typical. I’ve had people from Yunnan come and they’re like, ‘Oh my God—this is walking into my grandmother’s house. It wasn’t anything special and that’s what I liked about it. It was just an ordinary house of an ordinary person.”

Bringing Down the House

Flower used to work as a stonemason, moving old log cabins across Virginia, so he knew it was possible. He also knew that in China, traditional architecture was designed to be disassembled and moved as needed.

“Every generation or so you would rebuild your family house, usually on the same site,” he explained. “You would recycle what you could, and then expand it to accommodate a growing family. That was their tradition.”

Flower got together a group of colleagues and former students, one of whom was an architecture student who made a 3D model of the house. “I did lots of interviewing about the process of building, and how it was done originally, and different aspects of the community history and the family history,” Flower said.

The group also hired four workers from the Bai ethnic group, which had a long tradition of mortise and tenon construction. The group disassembled the house in just four days.

“Everything is done by either floating panels or mortise and tenon, so you just got to take it apart and do it step by step,” Flower said. “First we took out all the walls and the floors, and then we took the tile roof off and then all the rafters. Then all that was up were these four post and beam bents. We lowered them down and took them apart, wrapped everything up, and it all fit into one truck.”

Packed into a shipping container along with the house’s traditional furniture, the structure was ready to make the long trip to the United States. But would they be able to put it back together once it arrived?

Putting the Puzzle Back Together

One of the reasons that Flower and his team were able to reassemble the house was that it was built using traditional mortise and tenon construction methods.

“In traditional Western timber framing, there are lots of diagonal braces, and there are pegs that go and secure tenons that are slipped into mortises,” Flower said. “Here, they don’t have any diagonals. They have a double mortise. They have a mortise inside the mortise that has a kind of dovetail flange inside the joint. So there’s no diagonal braces at all in the structure, which makes the whole thing fit together like a puzzle. No pegs, just joinery.”

When the house got back to West Virginia, it was met by volunteers from the West Virginia Timber Framers Guild, who spent two weeks putting the frame back together.

“They thought it was fascinating,” Flower said. “It was just exactly what they do, but a different method, and the West Virginia guys had never seen anything like it. They were thanking me. They were volunteering for two weeks, but they were thanking me the whole time for bringing them such a cool kind of project.”

The original house.

Once the frame was in place, Flower’s students got in on the action. “Most of the work, honestly, was done by kids,” he said. “We did a building camp for five years, and they absolutely loved it. They learned how to do stone masonry. We had guys from the Timber Framer Guild who taught them how to do timber framing. It just kind of grew by word of mouth, and we’d have 90 kids coming over the course of a summer.”

Flower said his students loved working on the house. “All year round, all they get is external affirmation of grades and working on computers. It’s great for them to do something with their hands, and they get to be part of something bigger than themselves. Some of them come back year after year and they’ll point to stuff and say, ‘I built that.”

A Community Endeavor

Flower said that one of the best parts of building the house is how it’s been received by the community.

“That’s really been the most gratifying thing,” he said. “Local people just wander up there. And then it’s just all these people from China who are just so moved that we cared enough about a piece of their culture that we would go to the trouble of moving it, and they’ve been awesome.”

Flower said the house has won itself some surprising fans. “West Virginia is super red [politically], but even people who come out who normally wouldn’t interact with Chinese culture, they don’t see it as China. They see it as something that’s built by people like them.”

Bringing the community together is, as Flower said, “what we’re all about.”

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Philadelphia Navy Yard

Philadelphia Navy Yard’s $2.6 Billion Transformation Sets New Benchmarks in Diversity, Sustainability

  • Projects
Ensemble/Mosaic's ambitious master plan for the Philadelphia Navy Yard includes a $1 billion diversity pledge and the creation of a LEED-certified neighborhood

The Philadelphia Navy Yard’s master plan was developed by Ensemble/Mosaic. The plan is taking root across 1,200 acres, with more than 30 acres devoted to park space and 6.3 miles of a waterfront habitat that is home to more than 2,000 trees and wildlife.

The development is called AVE Navy Yard, and it is comprised of two buildings, AVE Normandy and AVE Constitution. Currently the development has two residential buildings going up which will be home to more than 1,000 residents, with plans upon full build out to have approximately 4,000 residential units which will be home to more than 6,000 residents

In 2023, the Navy Yard’s first speculative multi-tenant research and development lab building opened. Designed to be the most advanced building of its kind in the Philadelphia region, at four stories and 137,000 square feet, 1201 Normandy is optimized for cell and gene therapy companies and has the flexibility to accommodate a variety of life science and biotech users. 

Brian Cohen, managing director, Ensemble Investments, said the company wanted to ensure that what it was doing was going to be impactful for the city of Philadelphia and the surrounding neighborhoods. The company focused on a robust strategy and thought about which firms and individuals were designing, engineering, constructing, operating and managing its projects, as well as which firms and individuals would be occupying the site. 

$1 billion diversity pledge

Ensemble/Mosaic rooted its master plan in a $1 billion diversity pledge, including a promise to use minority-owned or women-owned enterprises for 20% of its equity investment.

“It was really looking at real estate as its whole lifecycle and thinking about how we could be inclusive and create opportunities for minorities, women and veterans in all aspects of our project,” Cohen said. “We committed to 40% of the companies that we engage with in the design and preprofessional services of our developments would be minority owned, woman owned, veteran owned disabled in construction.”

Ensemble/Mosaic’s goal is that 50% of those companies that are working on and constructing its buildings would be minority women and veteran owned disabled companies. 

It is likely to become more challenging to put some of those requirements in place once tenants arrive, however. “What we’ve committed to is that related to our retail space on the ground floors of our building, we would reserve 25% of our retail space for retailers that are owned by minority women or veterans,” Cohen said. “And we’d offer those at subsidized lease terms so that we could provide opportunities in a prime location for companies and individuals that might not otherwise have the opportunity to locate in a new neighborhood location.”

Since Ensemble/Mosaic started that program in the middle of 2020, it has committed in contracts to approximately $100 million to minority women and veteran-owned companies.

Ensemble/Mosaic also created a foundation that has surpassed $1 million. Met Foundation is dedicated to the education and empowerment of minorities, women and veterans. “Two percent of the net cash flow of everything we develop at the Navy Yard gets donated to that foundation,” Cohen said. “It has an ongoing sustainable source of revenue for everything from workforce training to low-interest loans, grants for minority women and veterans that either live, work, locate at or work on projects at the Navy Yard.”

Ensemble/Mosaic extended that into ownership as well. Mosaic is a minority- and woman-owned company. “When we look to our investors and how we capitalize and finance projects, we are taking that into account,” Cohen said. “On our residential project—a $285 million project—we had $110 million of that that was a minority-led investment by Basis out of New York, a minority- and woman-owned firm. They both invested in the project and then identified and led the rest of that investment for $110 million.”

Sustainability and DEI

All this is being done with a foundational value of sustainability and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) that the developers hope will serve as a model for other large-scale developments.

Nine Ensemble/Mosaic buildings at the Navy Yard are Silver-Platinum LEED Certified and the developers intend to create Philadelphia’s first LEED-certified neighborhood, with every building being LEED Silver or above. In addition, Ensemble/Mosaic has pledged that its $2.6 billion investment in the Navy Yard is committed to environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles.

“The environment contributes more greenhouse gases than any other industry that exists, more than the automobile industry,” Cohen said. “We thought about how we have as much positive impact as possible; developing sustainably was really important,” Cohen said. “We also know that it’s important to our customers and our various stakeholders and so we committed to utilizing LEED.”

Every building the company develops has a minimum of LEED Silver, with most of its buildings having achieved LEED Gold or LEED Platinum certification. “Most recently, we’ve embarked on going through LEED neighborhood development and certifying the Navy Yard as a LEED MD project, which looks beyond the building and to the community,” Cohen said. “It looks to infrastructure, public space, and it looks to health and wellness and making sure that we’re developing responsibly; that we’re thinking about the health and wellness of our occupants, and we’re trying to minimize the impact that we have on the environment and reduce our carbon footprint as much as possible.”

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Burmor Construction Bluebeam

How Bluebeam Streamlined Residential Development for Burmor Construction

  • Projects
See how Burmor Construction used Bluebeam to improve accuracy, reduce delays and enhance client collaboration

When contractor Burmor Construction needed to accurately price a residential development, Bluebeam was the obvious choice.

Elliot Road is a residential development project comprising 30 new dwellings. It involved clearing an existing site and infilling new homes. To help the team coordinate the project effectively, Burmor used Bluebeam.

The tool provided huge time savings during both design and construction. During design, it made the process of measuring the different elements of the project very easy, and in construction it helped the project team and client to make faster decisions.

Designing with digital tools

Sam Harwin, senior quantity surveyor at Burmor, had been using Bluebeam for several years. When he joined the company, it was something he was keen to roll out.

“One of the biggest benefits is that it makes measurement so easy to do,” Harwin said. “That helps us to accurately price our jobs and order the right number of materials. We try to do everything digitally, and then export the measurements to Microsoft Excel to build the bill of quantities.”

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As well as improving measurement, Bluebeam helped speed up design and reduce costs. For example, the team no longer needed to print multiple large drawings and complete markups by hand, which is time consuming and runs the risk of mistakes. This has led to a reduction in paper usage and has removed the need to purchase expensive printers. The team has even been able to reduce the size of its workspace.

Using software on site

During construction Bluebeam also helped the team to work on the project remotely, increasing approval speeds and avoiding delays.

Harwin said: “We had an issue on site when we cleared some vegetation. We found a boundary wall that was damaged. Instead of the client having to come to site and look before deciding, we digitally marked up the drawing, added a comment to explain what we’d found and then attached some photos. 

“This was all added to an email, with the client able to respond that day,” Harwin said. “In the past, something like that might have delayed a decision by up to a week, potentially causing a knock-on effect with other tasks.”

Increasing business efficiency

Using tools like Bluebeam is part of a wider strategy at Burmor to use technology to improve efficiencies.

“Like most businesses, we utilize Office 365 and OneDrive for our projects, with secure folders set up to share the latest documentation with clients and our supply chain partners,” Harwin said. “We’ve just started using drones to carry out site surveys too, allowing us to quickly review project progress.”

“While these are all useful, you also need tools that are specific to construction. Bluebeam is very versatile. It’s easy to use, is always up to date with the latest versions of documents and helps us to visually explain projects to our clients.”

“For example, we had to move some doors early in the design. It was easy to markup the drawing during the meeting, with the client able to decide there and then.”

Benefits for small contractors

To achieve benefits of any new software, construction businesses need to ensure they invest time and effort into the rollout process, according to Harwin.

“My advice to SMEs is that no matter what size you are, there is software that can help,” Harwin said. “Many construction businesses are doing the same thing and have similar needs—it might just be that for an SME this is on a smaller scale.” “We have found that software empowers smaller businesses to deliver work themselves that in the past they have had to go elsewhere for. We showed a bricklayer how to use Bluebeam’s measurement tool to help calculate the number of bricks they needed. Traditionally, they may have asked for QS support or discussed drawings with the architect, but they can do that themselves now using tools like Bluebeam.”

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Why Water Management Is Among Construction’s Most Pressing Issues

  • Projects
The construction sector uses a lot of water, not least in the manufacture of essential materials like concrete and mortar. As the world confronts a looming climate crisis, what does the industry need to do to manage its water usage more effectively when delivering the homes and other buildings society needs?

As well as one of life’s “essentials,” water is a crucial element in a variety of industrial processes, not least construction.

To the casual observer, the only visible evidence of construction site water use might be a worker hosing down a truck full of construction waste to prevent the escape of dust.

But lots of water is used in many aspects of construction and in a variety of ways.

Amid a climate change crisis and the increasing threat – and instance – of drought, the sector is looking at ways to improve water efficiency in construction projects, as well as doing more to source what it does use responsibly while striving to minimize waste and leaks.

How much water is used in construction?

According to the Construction Products Association, water is used throughout the construction lifecycle, from extracting raw materials to construction product manufacturing, throughout the building phase, and obviously once buildings have been completed and are occupied.

And when a building has reached the end of its useful life and is set to be demolished, water is used in that process too, not least to reduce the spread of dust and other debris into the air.

The CPA goes on to say that manufacturers of construction products rely on water across a broad spectrum of uses. Water, it says, “can serve as a lubricant, a cleaning agent, a sealant, a heat transfer medium, a solvent, an air pollution control medium, plus an array of other uses depending on the material and products being produced.”

Crucially, water is used in the manufacture of mortar and cement concrete, materials that have their own issues when it comes to energy efficiency and their environmental impact.

According to the journal Nature Sustainability, in 2012 concrete production was responsible for 9% of global industrial water withdrawals and 1.7% of total global water withdrawal.

The UK Centre for Moisture in Buildings reckons that up to 8,000 liters (2,113 gallons) of water may be included in mixtures and materials as construction of an average-sized new-build home proceeds, although this varies depending on the design.

The importance of water management during construction activity

Water is clearly a crucial component of construction activity. Consequently, its sourcing, storage, use and eventual disposal need to be managed effectively.

With mounting pressure on existing water supplies amid threats of droughts and other climate change-related events, having a construction water management plan in place is a must.

There is plenty of information available to the construction sector covering how to use – and conserve – water during project delivery.

In the UK, the Construction Leadership Council has drawn up water management guidance that asserts the need “to improve the efficiency of water use on construction sites through better planning and management … and to encourage consideration of environmental risks associated with construction activities.”

The CLC said its ultimate aim was to eliminate the demand and use of potable water in construction. “It is unlikely that water demand can be eliminated, but efforts can be made to reduce and use alternative sources, as well as reuse water for construction activities,” it added.

Once a project’s water needs have been identified, alternative sources should be planned for, with a metered potable supply available as backup.

The CLC calls for a water use hierarchy to be put in place, addressing – in descending order – the elimination of unnecessary water use; consideration of alternatives to potable water, such as rain and “grey” water; reduced use; and the reuse and recycling of water.

Effective water management is a group effort

The Water Conservancy organization encourages water conservation at every stage of a construction project, from design to planning and the construction process itself.

It also highlights the importance of involving the people tasked with delivering a scheme in the water use goals.

It is important, it says, to establish water conservation as a key objective of the project and ensure that everyone involved is aware of their responsibilities.

The Water Conservancy adds that induction training should be provided for new employees and contractors “so that they are also aware of their responsibilities and the benefits of the program,” while the project’s water management plan needs to be kept on-site to “ensure that all employees are aware of and have access to it.”

Water management needed to be discussed at regular meetings, the Water Conservancy says, with ongoing achievements monitored.

And in a nod toward the benefits of highlighting good practice, it adds: “Promote your successes with press releases to local media and industry associations.”

What are the rules and regulations around water consumption?

There are several areas of regulation covering water and the built environment, although these are focused on the degree to which water is used – and saved – once a development has been completed.

The mayor of London’s office spells out how agencies in London and adjoining regional and local planning authorities will work to “protect and conserve water supplies and resources in order to secure London’s needs in a sustainable manner.”

It stipulates that development should minimize the use of mains water by incorporating water-saving measures and equipment and by designing residential development so that mains water consumption would meet a target of 105 liters (28 gallons) or less per head per day.

There will also be support for sustainable water supply infrastructure in new developments as part of water companies’ water resource management plans.

How to reduce water consumption in construction: Now and in the future

While construction is improving water usage, designers of the homes and other buildings society needs will be creating them with water efficiencies in mind.

Planning authorities want limits of 125 liters (33 gallons) of water per person per day on new housing developments as part of the Building Regulations Part G and can demand a lower limit of 110 liters (29 gallons) as part of a planning condition.

The water footprint of a new home or office can be reduced considerably by thoughtful design.

Showers can replace baths, or baths can be designed to be more water efficient. Dual flush toilets are becoming the norm, while rainwater collection, via a water butt system, can replace tap water for most outside uses. Meanwhile, appropriate landscaping can protect homes from flooding – another consequence of climate change – and prevent wasteful water run-off.

With the world on the brink of a full-blown climate crisis, water efficiency in construction must be addressed. The sector is no doubt fully aware that it makes good environmental – and business – sense to tackle the water issue sooner rather than later.

Can Construction Be Completely Emissions-Free? Norway Aims To Find Out

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