Sustainable Development in the Context of Major Infrastructure Projects in United Kingdom

Ebikapade Amasuomo^1*, Syed Ali Hasnain², Ayodeji Yemi Osanyinlusi³

¹School of Engineering and Built Environment (SEBE), Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, UK.
²Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Building Design, School of Energy, Geosciences, Infrastructure & Society, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK.
³School of Contemporary Sciences, University of Abertay Dundee, Dundee, UK.

DOI: 10.4236/gep.2015.34006                

Abstract

The present paper is aimed at reviewing sustainable development and sustainability approach for infrastructure projects in the United Kingdom. It is imperative that major infrastructure projects (MIPs) adhere to the principles of sustainable development in order to promote sustainability. This requires identifying sustainable strategies that are capable of serving as a guide to inculcating sustainability into major infrastructural projects. The current paper examines ways of inculcating sustainability into infrastructure projects bearing in mind that construction, maintenance and the way we use facilities have significant impacts on the environment. In addition to the fact that, decision making tools on methods of inculcating sustainability into infrastructure project appear too complex to stakeholders; and in most cases they do not provide stakeholders the necessary information required to make a good judgement. Hence, the present paper relies on desk study to gather existing data on infrastructure project and sustainable development. Existing data are obtained from books, scholarly articles and the WebPages of municipal authorities in the UK. Amongst other findings, the paper reveals that the utilization of environmental impact statements and environmental assessment documents at the formative stage of projects will aid the assessment of the level of sustainability to be achieved in any infrastructure development.

Keywords

Sustainability, Infrastructure Projects, Sustainable Development

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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