Chris
Sorry I just got another note from Stephen Lees that pointed me back to this discussion.
I apologise, that I have NOW read the 5 page attachment that was included in your original post.
It all makes a bit more sense now, except;
I guess I now do not fully understand the difference between an "Action" and an "Approach".
My previous post here was trying to say we first need to educate the community and council staff on "Sustainability" issues so that we can have a sensible conversation with and between them. This is basically what is in Approach # 1.
So I guess I am saying there seems to be agreement on a way forward with a combination of Actions and Approaches, where to happen we need a list of agreed, "sustainable" actions.
Regards
[
IPWEA CEO Note: Hi Darron, I felt that some of the "approaches" and even "actions" in the attachment could be out of the hands of solely the Director Public Works. Some approaches require a more 'whole of organisation' approach which may not always have wider support within the organisation, e.g., a broad community awareness program. So we then distilled them into the Top 5 Sustainability Actions that a Public Works Director could take leadership on, even within his/her own Department, and even where a 'whole of organisation' approach may not be supported. CC.]
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Darron Passlow
Asset Management Team Leader
Pittwater Council
MONA VALE NSW
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-09-2014 23:46
From: Chris Champion
Subject: Top 5 Sustainability Actions for Public Works Directors
An outcome of the IPWEA "Sustainability in Public Works" Conference held in Tweed Heads in July 2014 is a list of 5 practical actions that a Director of Infrastructure / Public Works can personally take action and responsibility for.
The last session of the conference drew upon a number of authoritative sources that were developed in the lead up to or from the conference proceedings.
We were keen to drill this down to a top 5 priority actions for Public Works Directors, which have been distilled as follows: - Set, monitor, review and publicly report against challenging sustainability targets covering main resources used for energy, water, materials, waste and GHG emissions.
- Justify sustainability benefits in public works proposals on economic grounds using 'whole-of-life' costing.
- Promote more sustainable use of materials in public works by amending procurement policies and practices to explicitly consider environmental and social aspects.
- Design public works with built-in resilience to cope with increasing risks and challenges of climate change and extreme natural events.
- Investigate early replacement of all street lights with energy efficient LED lamps.
We encourage you to take up the leadership challenge of taking actions on sustainability in public works. The above actions might provide a good starting point.
We welcome any comments on these suggested actions and how public works can provide leadership in this area.
[A full copy of the report, actions and approaches distilled from the conference and lead up sources is attached.]
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Chris Champion
CEO, IPWEA
Sydney NSW
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