All
Building sustainably means building for the future
“We all benefit when sustainability is embedded integrally in the way we think and act.” Rosemarie Weigt and Simone Burkard are convinced of this. Our society is facing ever new challenges: climate risks, extreme weather events, population growth, increasing demand for space, and rising requirements driven by net-zero targets and sustainability strategies. Awareness of sustainability is there – yet comprehensive implementation still partly lags behind.
“In infrastructure construction, it is not yet standard practice to consider sustainability comprehensively and from the outset,” Simone explains. Why is that? And what does “sustainable planning and implementation” actually look like? These are the questions our sustainability experts address in their work. Through three projects, they illustrate just how complex this undertaking is.
Sustainability – a new Frontier?
Many infrastructure projects pursue an intrinsically sustainable objective: ensuring public infrastructure functions reliably over the long term. Yet it is not only what we build that matters – it is equally crucial how it is built. Sustainable construction means giving equal consideration to the environmental, social and economic dimensions. In complex infrastructure projects with long timeframes and numerous stakeholders, this presents a genuine challenge. So where should one begin?
The Sustainable Construction Standard Switzerland (SNBS) provides guidance by structuring sustainability across all three dimensions and the entire life cycle. The challenge in applying it lies not only in understanding its wide-ranging criteria, but also in translating them into practice: how can abstract criteria be turned into concrete planning steps?
How this can succeed is demonstrated by the waste-to-energy plant project in Thurgau. A replacement facility is planned that will in future supply a greater number of households with energy generated from waste recovery. The KVA Thurgau association is aligning the project with the SNBS Infrastructure standard to ensure the highest possible level of sustainability. In addition to established ecological measures such as photovoltaics, green façades and roofs, and reduced light and noise emissions, the SNBS framework also brings life-cycle considerations, fair contractual models, resource efficiency, and further social and economic aspects into sharper focus.
“For a project of this scale, this is new territory,” says Simone, who supports the process as a sustainability expert. She asks the right questions, develops measures together with the planners, and makes sustainability visible. “It’s not about turning a project upside down,” she explains. “Rather, it’s about identifying, leveraging and making visible existing potential – often there is already more in place than one might think.”
The earlier, the better
Sustainability considerations unfold their greatest potential at the very beginning of a project, when objectives are defined and the scope for design is still broad. “Sustainability is not a method, but a mindset,” Rosemarie explains. “It takes a wide range of perspectives into account and supports decision-making processes from planning through to implementation.”
One example of early involvement is the ZASE inter-municipal association’s Vision 2040 for the expansion of the wastewater treatment plant. Alongside technical improvements – such as the addition of a further treatment stage – a key question arose: how can municipalities, neighbouring projects, natural areas and the needs of employees be integrated in the best possible way? Through an initial workshop, a podcast and AI-supported analysis, contributions were consolidated and enriched with additional perspectives.
“Together with the stakeholders, we developed a vision encompassing five dimensions: technical, interconnected, economic, social and ecological. We then translated these into eight guiding principles for decision-making – the compass for the ‘plant of tomorrow’,” explains Rosemarie, who has been involved in this process from the outset.
More than a Road
Raising awareness at an early stage and communicating in a clear, tangible way pays off – particularly in inner-urban projects where the needs of the municipality and local residents take centre stage. This is demonstrated by the Küsnacht road rehabilitation project. As part of the replacement of the road pavement on the Sonnenrain residential street, the promotion of sustainability was assessed in alignment with the municipality’s objectives.
What began as a purely technical refurbishment evolved into the development of an attractive street space: a place where passers-by, residents and schoolchildren feel safe and comfortable, which remains pleasantly cool in summer and conveys a near-natural character rather than a traffic-dominated image.
In the preliminary study phase, Rosemarie applied the SNBS Infrastructure standard and assessed three variants against criteria such as quality of stay, safety, resource optimisation, climate adaptation and multifunctionality, in combination with potential design elements including parking spaces, green areas, carriageways and pavements. Taking into account the municipality’s climate and sustainability objectives – and supported by visualisations – the evaluation served as a sound basis for decision-making. The preferred option was presented in the report for public consultation. On this basis, the project will be further developed following the public participation process.
The Journey as Destination
“We do not yet know what challenges we will be facing in five or ten years’ time,” Rosemarie points out. “What is certain, however, is that we must remain flexible. Sustainability always involves weighing up options, engaging in dialogue and continuing to learn” – very much in the spirit of Exploring Together.