Societal

In a sustainable society decision making needs to include consideration of others, including future generations and people elsewhere in the world. It is generally accepted that this leads to an increased likelihood of acceptance and success of a project, ensuring that it will become a building which will be useful for many generations.

Community

Including the community & staff & students in the college design will add value and enable objectives to be achieved. It can also bring many benefits to the local community. Many of the processes can lead to community development and add to the creation or maintenance of sustainable communities, which is essential for sustainable development.

· Community Engagement

· Business Engagement

· Regional Engagement

Questions to consider

· Have the staff/pupils/local community been identified and involved or engaged in the process?

· Has it been from the earliest stages and are three plans to involve people throughout the whole process?

· What processes are being undertaken? (consultation, participation, information sharing, education and feedback mechanisms)

· cf. decision making indicator

· Is the Design Team committed to publicising information about the new building? What media will be used? What information will be included?

At what design stage should this issue be considered?

VISION, DESIGN


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Donations to voluntary and community organisations: 1% of pre tax profits.

Investing in or giving to the local community, whether through financial donation, time in kind or general support can have obvious benefits for the community, but also improves corporate social responsibility, stakeholder opinion and provides opportunities for the company and its staff to learn. An example of this can be seen in the UK in the establishment of the % club - a 200 strong group of companies - promoting a benchmark of 1% of pre-tax profits to be donated to local community projects.

Questions to consider

• Are contributions being made (financial and non-financial)?
• What percent of capital expenditure or pre tax profits is being donated?
• Are continued programmes in place?
• Is corporate community investment being monitored?

At what design stage should this issue be considered?

VISION

Decision Making

Consultation enables us to tap into local expertise, identify actual community or user needs, understand local issues and avoid conflict. It also enables us to achieve cultural understanding and design projects appropriately. It is important that the consultation that is undertaken is democratic and not command or control based. Creating opportunities for people to participate in projects can add creativity and innovation and bring extra resources. Involvement also encourages ownership, which means projects are more likely to be cared for, maintained and continue to be developed.

Questions to consider

• Are the aims of any consultation clear?
• What method of decision making is used?
• Is it appropriate to what is being asked and is the community involved?
• Has the community been involved from the outset and are there plans for involvement throughout the process (tokenism should be avoided)?
• cf. community indicator

At what design stage should this issue be considered?

DESIGN

Social Identity

Elements should be built into the project to increase social identity and a sense of place.

The college should have an image and identity that encourages people to learn, and attend the college especially from hard to reach to groups.

Questions to consider

• Have the key characteristics of the community been identified?
• How are the key characteristics and diversity of the community being responded?
• Is the project enhancing the physical or social context of the area/community encouraging social identity? (E.g. public art, historical interpretation, cultural celebration.)
• Has the community developed ownership of any changes?

At what design stage should this issue be considered?

VISION

Social Inclusion

Multicultural communities have diversity and ethnicity needs. The varying needs of students and teachers should be catered for so that there is a positive interaction between different cultures and the college. The needs of the different communities should be reflected in the design of the college at an early stage.

Questions to consider

• Has the college suitable facilities for a diverse and multicultural community, for example, prayer and meditation rooms?

At what design stage should this issue be considered?

DESIGN

Reporting

Economic, environmental and social reporting should be externally verified, with reporting on key performance indicators. The indicators should reflect general trends towards sustainability.

Questions to consider

• Has a report been produced detailing the sustainability performance?
• Is this report in the public domain?

At what design stage should this issue be considered?

DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION, OPERATION

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