Future direction of measurement methodologies

The role of, and principles behind, the robust evaluation of sustainability through the procurement process and beyond was discussed in Chapter 6. While many of the tools and policies in use today attempt to promote forward-looking actions, they are necessarily limited by our lack of knowledge of what the future holds and the necessity to work within current practices, technologies, knowledge and economic limitations. As a result, much of our current ‘forward-looking’ design is, in reality, often driven by policies and targets with a short time horizon of no more than 5–10 years. Given the life expectancy of our buildings, a time horizon of well over 50 years would be more appropriate if we could determine suitable targets with a reasonable degree of confidence.