| Front page | | Contents | | Previous | | Next |

Cleaner Technology Projects in Denmark 1996

An Evaluation of the Project "The Contractor’s Environmental Guide"

This report evaluates the project "`The Contractor’s Environmental Guide". It includes the most important experiences gained during the course of the project. The intention is that others working on similar communication projects should be inspired by this work and, to a certain extent, be enabled to make use of the gathered experiences.

In the years to come the building and construction industry, as well as many other industries, are sure to be met with an increasing amount of environmental management demands. Contractors can essentially influence the environment from tendering and contract negotiations up to the day that the completed project is handed over. When a construction firm engages in environmental management, it basically prepares itself to meet these demands, since environmental management is a systematic and preventive attitude towards managing environmental matters.

The Contractor’s Environmental Guide is an information material, which deals with environmental management in contracting firms. The material is specifically designed for those contracting firms that may have a desire to work seriously with environmental management. It provides instructions for active work in the firm and can be used as a tool, when initiating the environmental management process.

In some aspects the project was very untraditional: First of all, the users have been included in the process from the beginning of the project. Second of all, there has been a focus on the guide’s adaptation of the industry’s knowledge and attitude barriers. Finally, the special collaboration between the researchers and contractors is reflected in the principles and methods recommended in the guide. Because of the characteristics, it has been possible to get one step further with the analysis of problems and solutions.

Thus, knowledge transmitted in the manner that the guide utilises becomes more present, interesting and motivating. An information material of this character, where information and knowledge is separated, differentiated and distributed through transmission, will therefore be a powerful tool when an organisation engages in knowledge and attitude building. This effect can be credited to the materials concerned with the specific problems and possibilities of the target groups – and also because it is done with insight in the attitude, knowledge, culture and language of the target group.

The Contractor’s Environmental Guide project resulted in the publication of the information material by the Danish Contractors' Association, as well as the Danish Environmental Protection Agency’s publication of a preproject and the present evaluation report.

The information material consists of 4 booklets about environmental management aimed at the different organisational levels in the contracting firm, 2 publications as technical support for the booklets, a video with the title "Entreprenøren og Miljøledelse" (The Contractor and Environmental Management) and an information pamphlet which provides an overview of the Contractor’s Environmental Guide, as well as an order form.

The most important experiences from the process of developing the information material are:

On the one hand involvement of the users is extremely time and resource demanding. On the other hand, the users' active participation in the process contributes highly to secure the quality and utility of the material for practitioners, just as it initiates a debate in the industry and thus raises the interest for the project and the common knowledge of its existence.

The combination of the analyses of the target group and the mapping of the need for knowledge with the involvement of users are a powerful tool in limiting and defining the scope of information.

It was important to be cautious when the information was distributed and communicated to each target group and each function.

The technical communication part of the process was very time demanding. It required resources and time for linguistic and layout design for a good result. This provided a lot of possibilities for good effects and highlighted important messages.

The implementation of the guide as a tool in the industry was a great success factor. It was important to advertise the existence of the material and the concept before, during and after the publication of the guide. This promoted the project to users, researchers and other interested parties and also elicited feedback and discussion.

Although the Contractor’s Environmental Guide is finished, the work is not yet done. The project initiated a process, which should be followed up and developed further. It is necessary to keep on working and co-operating in the whole building and construction industry, if the industry is going to achieve a more sustainable development.

Many people have helped in order to get the project going and see it carried out. These people have improved the project, but have also required extra administration. Many of these helpful people are "fiery souls", who are idealistic and interested in the field. Although we have not always agreed 100% with them, there is no doubt that the project would never have reached the present level without their participation.

This project has demonstrated that it is possible, within relatively limited time span and limited resources, to produce an information material that covers a specific need for knowledge about the environment and environmental management.

Author/ institution

Christian Egebjerg og Niels Falk
DTU, Institut for Planlægning. Faggruppen for byggeproduktion og -ledelse

This report is subsidised by the National Council for Recycling and Cleaner Technology.

ISSN no. 0105-3094
ISBN no. 87-7810-643-5

| Front page | | Contents | | Previous | | Next | | Top |