Welcome to APRES

This is the website for the APRES research project, based at the School of Civil and Building Engineering at Loughborough University. The project is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and runs from 2010-2013. It is being lead by Dr Jacqueline Glass and is supported by a number of industry and academic partners.

An action programme for responsible sourcing
The construction materials industry is being subjected to growing stakeholder expectations about the accountability, transparency and legitimacy of its operations.

There is no one single definition for responsible sourcing of construction products, but it refers to the management of sustainability issues associated with materials in the construction supply-chain, often from an ethical perspective.

The overarching aim of APRES is to develop an action programme in response to the challenges of delivering responsible sourcing in the UK construction industry. To achieve this, the network will act as a new community 'centre' for knowledge-sharing and dissemination of responsible sourcing practices, forging new research ideas and relationships and providing guidance direct to the industry.

This website contains details of the project, upcoming events and related research, plus details of how to get in touch and become involved for free as an Associate Member.

Please bookmark the APRES website and visit us again soon.

News

With the help of some additional funding from the EPSRC's Knowledge Dissemination Fund, APRES have been able to publish a new Little Book of Responsible Sourcing, which you can download by clicking on the image of the front cover, just to the left. The PDF is free to download and you are welcome to send it to anyone that you think would be interested – you could even put it on your website, provided you include a link back to the APRES website.

Events in 2011

Following the 1st APRES Conference in November 2011 (see our Events page for more details), we are pleased to announce that the 2nd APRES Conference "Responsible sourcing in action" will be held at Loughborough University on 21-23 November 2012. There will be a range of leading speakers, technical breakout sessions, an exhibition and a research workshop. Details will be uploaded to this website as they become available, but to make sure you get all the up to date news, please join as an Associate Member to receive our regular newsletter.