Integrating Sustainability Into Major Projects

CHAPTER 5Project Management

One of the fundamental principles of project management is that early planning and establishing structure is critical to project success. The classic project management influence diagram (see Figure 5.1) shows the how early investment in project management allows the project team to influence the outcome of the project. Making changes later in the project ends up costing more than if they are addressed early in the project. The same concept is very true of sustainability management and the integration of sustainability into project development. Investing the time upfront to ensure that sustainability integration provides project teams the ability to influence success and manage better projects.

Traditional project management views sustainability as a separate topic often relegated to another department or external consultant. This traditional approach misses out on the opportunity to control sustainability issues. Not having control over the management of sustainability can increase project risk or result in significant delays and rework because teams must respond to constraints or issues raised by regulators or local communities as the project progresses.

Furthermore, it is far worse is to wait for major issues like a significant construction delay or a lawsuit to attempt to fix sustainability issues. There are numerous examples of projects being shutdown mid-construction or requiring rework because of issues that could have been avoided if they were ...