Achieving sustainability in construction through the specialist task organisation procurement approach

The issue of sustainability continues to grow in importance because of its relationship with overall Quality of Life (QOL) in terms of economic, social and environmental well-being. The aim of this study is to demonstrate the use of Specialist Task Organisation (STO) procurement approach in achieving triple bottom-line sustainability goals. The STO route is a project management tool that incorporates value engineering management and recognises the economic, social and environmental needs of the project. The STO route from the product development point of view provides a solution based on integration in development tasks (and organisations) and on fragmentation in execution tasks (and organisations) through the use of specialists' organisations. The study is based on a literature review, the analysis of policy documents and two case studies. The study demonstrates that the STO approach can achieve three main objectives of sustainability: through embedding sustainable environmental clauses at the onset, an overall value-adding process via value engineering management and whole-life costing in the early stages and the resultant effects of specialist involvement in community and social benefits for the stakeholders. The study can serve as a tool to achieve sustainability in projects through the use of specialists in the design and construction of their tasks, resulting in environmentally friendly buildings that are fit for the purpose, achieve value for money and other social considerations. This study also serves as a tool to put sustainable polices into practice through procurement strategy.