Material Challenges

The current challenge in the build environment is that we can not design or ensure that we have 100% healthy materials and healthy buildings. There are a number of products in use in typical building construction that still have chemical of concern. It is also important that we still are able to select products that will be on budget and available to meet the tight time frame by which we need to build and realise a project. With this in mind it is important to position the individual health requirement with equil focus and emphasis as time, cost and aesthetic quality. It is important to do as much as we can do while realising that the current materials available will not allow us to create a 100% healthy building. In this case we there need to prioritise what is important. It could be a specific health goal, it could be about taking the largest material used and focus on making sure that is healthy and thus working with the volume of material, or it could be based on reducing a particular type of exposure to a chemical.

It is better to work with clients to ensure we are doing the best we can and by asking for these types of buildings we will be changing the industry and manufactures of products to start shifting the focus on healthier materials and therefore lowering the cost.