A key challenge in achieving sustainable development is understanding what it means in practice.
At Halcrow, we have developed a toolkit which defines sustainability, and supports decision making on sustainability issues, in any given context.
HalSTAR provides a robust, transparent process which enables users to identify key issues and take stakeholder priorities into account – whether those of government, local authorities, investors, NGOs or end users. These are used to develop relevant criteria with which to evaluate proposals and determine appropriate improvements.
Unlike many other approaches, it is not prescriptive in terms of the issues that need to be considered. Instead it builds the basis for analysis upon the needs and values of the complete set of stakeholders for the particular policy, plan or project being assessed.
Graphical outputs convey key issues and impacts in simple diagrammatic format, for stakeholders and decision makers, providing a clear and auditable demonstration of holistic sustainable thinking over the full project cycle.
This innovative approach ensures that time and energy is focused where it counts, resulting in a context-specific sustainable solution that reduces risks and highlights opportunities for innovation, efficiency and added value.
The HalSTAR process is highly adaptable and applicable in a wide range of contexts, including:
- project sustainability appraisals
- lifecycle asset management
- programme management
- development masterplanning
- water resource management
- renewable energy development
- sustainable built environments
- analysis and development of policies and strategies
- organisational sustainability management
- corporate responsibility reporting