Constructing Change: The Contractor’s Commitment

Health and wellness are in high demand in sustainable design. Soft daylight, superb indoor air quality, enhanced thermal comfort, great ergonomics … all these design elements and more are becoming standard for students, patients, and office workers.

Once design is done, though, the human beings who construct the resulting high-performing buildings almost never get similar benefits. They work in harsh sunlight, breathe diesel fumes all day, bear up under extreme heat and cold, and put their bodies through difficult and repetitive tasks. What about them?

And what about other jobsite issues, like carbon emissions and water use? What about ensuring that specified green building products actually make it into the project?

There is a stubborn gap between green design and green building. But a group of industry leaders is out to close it with a program called the Contractor’s Commitment to Sustainable Building Practices.

First conceived at the 2018 national summit of the BuildingGreen Sustainable Construction Leaders Peer Network, the commitment was inspired by one of the members sharing about a regional program, the Colorado Contractor’s Challenge, they had helped create.

The Contractor’s Commitment addresses the following categories:

• Carbon reduction
• Jobsite wellness
• Waste management
• Water management
• Material selection

With 16 signatories representing billions of dollars of market value in its pilot year, 2021, the commitment is already gaining traction. For it to continue to solidify and grow, however, the initiative will require cross-disciplinary support from the whole industry.