Research partnerships
Supporting responsible sourcing within the construction industry
Company
Multiple manufacturers, architects, contractors and engineers
Expertise
School of Civil and Building Engineering
The construction materials industry is coming under increasing pressure to prove the accountability, transparency and legitimacy of its operations.
This pressure arises from concerns about global supply chains, labour and welfare conditions, environmental impacts and corruption. Responsible sourcing is about managing these issues so that customers and contractors can be more confident about the origin of the materials they are purchasing.
In 2008, the UK government-industry Strategy for Sustainable Construction called for twenty five per cent of products to be from schemes recognised for responsible sourcing by 2012.
Against this background, Loughborough University’s School of Civil and Building Engineering is running the APRES research project from 2010 to 2013.
Lead by Dr Jacqueline Glass, the project is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and supported by a number of industry and academic partners.
APRES aims to develop an action programme in response to the challenges of delivering responsible sourcing in the UK construction industry. The network will act as a new community centre for knowledge-sharing and dissemination of responsible sourcing practices, forging new research ideas and relationships and providing guidance direct to the industry.
Impact
- The dissemination of knowledge, research and best practice to the construction industry via conferences, seminars, films and publications
- More than 50 delegates from the private sector registered for the first APRES Conference on Responsible Sourcing, in November 2011