SUREURO - What sustainability mean to us:

All sustainability is local - from multi-governmental policies and directives down to local implementation.

Many refurbishment processes in European countries lack important elements as they often focus only on technical issues and leave out comprehensive refurbishment strategies which should integrate all levels of management as well as tenants participation. Spending only initial costs on incentives often ignores necessary investments in maintenance and control for a long-term process.

Although overall multi-governmental policies and directives exist at a EU and national level, the reality of sustainable processes will take place at the local level.

By networking among researchers, consultants and housing associations, SUREURO pursues the objectives of supporting locally active housing companies by: 

• Stimulating and supporting sustainable and consumer-oriented transformation of post war housing areas based on best practice in Europe. 

• Developing, training and implementing practical tools for integrating sustainable development and tenant participation in refurbishment management processes

• Staying within normal costs for tenants

The whole process must be built upon a combination of wishes, i.e policies and directives and reality, i.e economy, markets, ecology, social and cultural aspects etc.

This is illustrated by the comparison of strategies used by SUREURO housing companies on different scales (e.g. Kalmarhem, Sweden – Marzahn, Berlin).  

Conclusion: All real sustainability is local.
SUREURO reference: State-of-the-Art, Milestone 2: Seven housing organisations, seven countries, seven starting points, seven solutions

Sustainability is a continuous process - from Total Quality Management, ISO to SQI

Too often it is believed that sustainability is only about technical installations, which are measurable and verifiable. This degrades sustainability to a one-time process.

The case studies from SUREURO show a different reality: a company trying to comprehensively achieve sustainability in its everyday work needs to manage many processes in parallel. This is one essential lesson learned by all the companies in SUREURO: sustainability is a continuous process in which yesterday’s implementations need further development and new processes.  

Conclusion: Sustainability is an continuous process.
SUREURO reference: SQI - Sustainable Quality Identification

Sustainability is an overall “installation” - From policies to technical solutions.

But where is the cell of activity that triggers sustainability at the local level? During the research and implementation processes in SUREURO it has been proven that implementation of overall sustainability has a number of different facets. On the one hand it is a major question for the boards, management, customers and local authori­ties, so the top of the organisation must take the major decisions. On the other hand the real process and progress is a question for the organisation as a whole. It has to find its expression in the company’s business strategy as well as in its property and facilities management. In practice, this means that all players involved must participate in a refurbishment process. The decision making process involves diagnosis of the company’s situation, design and construction techniques as well as an assessment of the success of applied methods, and this requires the involvement of all parties concerned in the whole organisation to show effects of real sustainability.

Conclusion: Real sustainabilty has an impact on the whole organisation, it’s surroundings, its clients/customers and staff at all levels.
SUREURO reference: Conceptual Process Model

Stages needed: Information; Interest; Insight; Implementation

When pursuing a real sustainable process, you need to spend a lot of time in order to reach understanding within the organisation. Not until intensive efforts have been made at this co-ordinating stage will it be possible to implement and process sustainability.

A real understanding of these issues is essential: What is sustainability? How does ift affect our organisation and me personally? What are the positive effects? What are the negative effects?  

One keyword regarding this need for information and insight is "offering transparency" on decision-making processes as well as remaining open to diverse perspectives and proposals. Motivation is required: generating interest through constantly informing all parties involved to draw their attention to new measures, tools and methods, e.g. the SUREURO Gaming Exercise that simulates a refurbishment process. This promotes the willing participation of all players to find the best solutions along the way.

Conclusion: Sustainability is a process of understanding and acceptance more than a simple implementation of techniques and technology.
SUREURO reference: SUREURO Game Exercise

So what does SUREURO finally offer to all interested parties?

Jan A Blomstrand, MBA
Project leader SUREURO