Days are passing by in predicting – what will the future look like? The question is easy to answer while difficult at the same time to address the inherent numerous questions in this whole question. The future discourse is dependent on our actions, it is solely upon us that whether we want to embrace the concept of ‘regenerative future’. Everything is interconnected in some or another way, for instance for construction activities to work properly in a country there is a need of creating a conducive environment. The idea of a regenerative future revolves around this interconnectedness and the concept of a ‘new economy.
Graana.com through this blog highlights the concept of ‘regenerative future and construction’. Regenerative future is about revitalizing and reusing the sources of material and energy. In construction regenerative system is about designing a system in which every stakeholder is involved in making construction a part of the regenerative future.
What is Regenerative Future
As mentioned earlier, Regenerative Future is a system in which relevant stakeholders of the construction sector are taken on board in order to implement the agenda of sustainable development. For example, the whole cycle in regenerative future and construction involves stakeholders from procurement, construction, operation, and future life. The reason for creating a cyclic system is to create a chain in this whole process so that from the very beginning the foundation of sustainable development can be laid.
Procurement
Most of the time the agenda of sustainable development faces hindrance since the planning process is given a go-ahead by excluding a key player in the whole process. Therefore, most of the time and agenda lags behind its outputs or outcomes. In construction, procurement is the starting point of any project or it is a stage from which a project is officially kicked off. It is a transitionary state in which a sustainable design or a construction project is realized. It is pertinent to mention here that the construction along with catering to the ecological merits also takes into consideration the socially just and creates a human enabling environment. There are various frameworks that can guide sustainable procurement for a regenerative future. For example, ISO 20400 provides a framework for a sustainable procurement process.
Construction
Construction is the building block of the regenerative economy, in order to downsize the negative impacts of the construction, adopting sustainable construction materials and practices can provide a major breakthrough for the regenerative future. The concept behind regenerative construction is to provide a healthy living environment to the inhabitants and to diminish the negative consequences of construction. In construction, regenerative construction revolves around three components of construction: materials, technology, and tools. The efforts of scientists are underway to develop such materials that have a longer span and can self-heal. For instance, self-healing concretes have already started to make an impact on the industry. Robotics in construction is another depiction of regenerative construction.
Operations
Operations influence the pace of construction and also the whole agenda of construction. Therefore, including operations in the whole process is not only necessary but is also a significant part of the regenerative future. From controlling and managing the labour to managing the human resource on the site. The aim of the operations manager is to ensure the social well being of the people while also eradicating discrimination. From the ecological perspective, ensuring efficient use of resources while keeping in view the aspect of circular economy is also the major objective in the regenerative economy. Simultaneously, managing the energy streams used in the construction process is also necessary which if managed efficiently can help to reduce or manage the construction costs.
Future
Emerging trends tell a lot about the new patterns, for making construction a part of the regenerative future it is necessary that our construction and buildings should respond promptly to the new trends. For example, the concept of ‘sentinent’ buildings is orchestrated in the construction sector, in other words, the buildings that can learn. By using this term, it is meant that buildings should be built in such a manner that they have the capacity to respond to the changes in future. Artificial Intelligence AI has already started to make interactive buildings -the buildings which have the ability to interact with inhabitants.
