Building a document
We've just been engaged on an unusual project in the UK - for a start, there's not a crane, brick or piece of scaffolding in sight. Our system is going to be used as the collaborative platform for members of the Sustainable Environment Foundation as they put together their 'green paper'.
This Green Paper is an interesting project. It's a private sector charitable initiative that will report on how the construction industry can minimize its impact on climate change. Companies like BioRegional Quintain, Savills, Lend Lease and even Greenpeace and the WWF are putting the paper together and its findings will be handed over to government next year. All in all, it should be a highly significant report.
The Foundation was keen to use a collaboration tool to cut down on paper usage. It's widely agreed that collaboration tools cut the need for paper (in the 2006 NCCTP study 'Proving Collaboration Pays', 79% of the collaboration tool users surveyed said it reduced their need for paper documents and 91% said they spent less money on couriers and postage), although I don't know of any independent, quantitative comparisons of paper reduction between a project that is using a collaboration tool and one that isn't.
That said, it's encouraging that organizations like those in the Foundation see how collaboration tools can support sustainable practices.
Labels: Global trends, Project profiles
