The Ministry of Defence faces some unique challenges when it comes to implementing sustainability, but it also offers lessons that apply to every sector. Abby Foster reflects on what she’s learned over a decade of helping military clients meet some very high aspirations

When you think of organisations that are setting the pace on sustainability, the Ministry of Defence probably doesn’t come to mind. And yet, the MOD is a leader within the public sector for its sustainability ambitions – something that’s not often shouted about, partly due to the very strict security around these nationally important projects.

Over more than a decade of delivering projects for the MOD, we’ve distilled some key lessons about how to make sustainability work for this sector.

 

Lesson #1: Flexibility is key

The MOD has set itself some very challenging targets – which are all the more stretching because of the funding constraints on schemes, the operational requirements they must meet, and the speed with which they must be delivered. New build projects must achieve a minimum of Excellent, and refurbishments and smaller projects Very Good, under its own sustainability standard, DREAM.

The MOD has set itself some very challenging targets – which are all the more stretching because of the funding constraints on schemes, the operational requirements they must meet, and the speed with which they must be delivered.

This is very similar to BREEAM and uses the same scoring system, but it’s more flexible and customised to military bases. For example, on a typical non-defence building, a sustainability assessment would consider ways of enhancing the experience for the occupants, focusing on thermal comfort and good levels of daylight. On the MOD estate, there are often rooms with no external windows – either for security reasons, or because they are designed for viewing activity in an adjacent training room. This means that some energy-saving strategies are not available, and it increases reliance on mechanical and electrical systems, so we may have to take very different routes to achieve the same rating.

 

Lesson #2: Look beyond the building

A unique feature of DREAM is a requirement to collaborate with the base on which construction is taking place, to ensure there is adequate infrastructure to provide energy, water and waste collection for the new building. This collaboration is important because of the unknowns that can affect any excavation on military bases – from private utility services to unexploded ordnance.

It’s also essential for meeting some DREAM requirements, such as a mandate to use rainwater harvesting unless there is a strong justification not to. This surprises a lot of project teams, and it’s an area where that early-stage collaboration with the base is crucial. On one of our recent projects, it revealed that there was a local prohibition on using rainwater harvesting because it was in an area of water scarcity.

It’s also essential for meeting some DREAM requirements, such as a mandate to use rainwater harvesting unless there is a strong justification not to. This surprises a lot of project teams, and it’s an area where that early-stage collaboration with the base is crucial.

Lesson #3: Targets have to be tough – and we have to work together to meet them

One area where defence is way out in front of both the private and public sectors is embodied carbon. In previous versions of DREAM, there was only a requirement to carry out a whole-life carbon assessment. The latest version, to which Ridge contributed as part of the consultation process, introduces a requirement to keep embodied carbon below certain thresholds in order to achieve specific credits. This has made it much harder to hit the highest scores, but that’s why standards like DREAM and BREEAM exist: to push project teams to go beyond minimum regulations.

This is where we’ve found that being a truly multidisciplinary team is a big advantage. Because our sustainability team is embedded with Ridge designers, we can encourage them to think about how they can reduce energy use and improve the fabric of the building, within the scope of delivering a very significant operational need. That familiarity, proximity and open channel of communication means we can have useful conversations about tricky aspects, and contribute more meaningfully than if we were all sitting in separate organisations.

 

Lesson #4: Post-occupancy evaluation improves efficiency

We also have a real passion for post-occupancy evaluation (PoE), which involves returning to a building after it’s been running for a while. With any large organisation, communication and connectivity between projects is key, and the MOD estate has an enormous opportunity to make greater use of PoE. Individual schemes are developing really innovative ways of improving sustainability, but these aren’t necessarily passed on. Unlike BREEAM, PoE isn’t a requirement on DREAM, but it could be a valuable addition to a future revision.

A formal mechanism for sharing knowledge from project to project would avoid teams having to reinvent the wheel every time. None of the standards dictate exactly how requirements should be included, so we help our design teams to embed them in the most sensible way. There are economies of scale – we get it right once, and we can replicate it on future projects to help our defence clients to achieve sustainability targets as efficiently as possible. For example, we helped a military accommodation provider to develop a DREAM-compliant sustainable procurement plan, which they now use across all their projects.

There are economies of scale – we get it right once, and we can replicate it on future projects to help our defence clients to achieve sustainability targets as efficiently as possible. For example, we helped a military accommodation provider to develop a DREAM-compliant sustainable procurement plan, which they now use across all their projects.

Lesson #5: High-level commitment drives performance on the ground

It’s striking how the MOD’s corporate commitment to sustainability and ESG has cascaded down since we first began working in this sector. Sustainability used to be driven by planning requirements, but increasingly it’s coming from within organisations themselves.

This is not just because corporate leaders want to make a difference for future generations, it’s also because they know it’s necessary to attract today’s young people into the defence workforce. We’re also seeing a much greater focus on health and wellbeing, as a tool for recruitment and retention. Defence buildings can be quite tough environments to work in, so our clients are looking at how they can provide complementary spaces where employees can spend their downtime: we’re working with gym supplier BeaverFit to develop high-quality, DREAM-compliant training facilities that can be rapidly deployed. [insert link]

Sustainability can contribute to wellbeing too: one of the sites we’re working on is aiming for some very significant biodiversity net gain. That won’t just help to preserve and restore nature in the vicinity of the base, it will also improve the quality of life of the people who work there – we know that proximity to nature makes a huge difference.

This is a shining example of the wider importance of sustainability when embraced wholeheartedly. As specialist as defence projects are, this is a lesson that could apply to any sector.

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Abby Foster is a Partner based in the Winchester office at Ridge, and leads its Sustainability Consultancy team. You can contact Abby at afoster@ridge.co.uk.