I Thought Slave Labor in Construction Was Not My Problem. I Was Wrong.

Before I got involved in the Design for Freedom initiative, the idea of forced or slave labor in construction sounded like someone else’s problem: something distant, historical, solved. I was wrong on all three counts.

I became an architect because I believe design can improve lives. Most designers are drawn to this field for the same reason. But the problem of unethical and enslaved labor is right under our noses, embedded into almost every project we sign on to. As an industry, we’re only beginning to reckon with it.

Let me back up.

In 2018, when I was incoming president of the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects, I received an invitation to an informal discussion titled Slavery in Construction Materials hosted by Grace Farms founder Sharon Prince. I already admired Grace Farms—a multifaceted institution with a mission to address humanitarian issues, including environmental sustainability, food insecurity, and disconnected communities—and although slavery in construction piqued my interest, it sounded hyperbolic, conjuring images of ancient pyramids, antebellum mansions, and the notorious 2022 FIFA World Cup stadium in Qatar—eras and places I had filed in my mind under “history” or “somewhere else.”

I attended more out of curiosity than conviction. Prince, who led the meeting, explained she was bringing attention to the conditions of human exploitation which flourish in the construction industry. This, I thought, was not my problem. I visit my own construction sites weekly, review applications for payment, and know the contractors personally. I felt confident that the people working on my buildings were being treated fairly.

But when the conversation turned to supply chains and where project materials such as brick, steel, and timber originate, I quickly began to feel less certain.

The supply chain we never see

Construction is susceptible to forced labor due to the layered and complex supply chains in every project. A single building can incorporate thousands of materials; each of which is the endpoint of a supply chain that may stretch across a dozen countries, passing through many hands before it ever reaches a job site. The construction ecosystem accounts for anywhere between 11 and 13% of global GDP and trillions in annual spending, yet it is one of the most fragmented and least modernized sectors in the global economy. Layers of subcontractors and middlemen make tracing any material back to its origin extremely difficult. Among global industries, construction is considered particularly vulnerable to forced labor, alongside agriculture and domestic work.

The Walk Free Global Slavery Index for 2023 reports that there are just under 50 million people living in modern slavery; of these, some 12 million are children. It is difficult to imagine the pain of 12 million children, but firsthand accounts from survivors such as Amar Lal bring the issue into searing focus. Lal, who is currently a human rights lawyer and activist in India, was born in Rajasthan where his entire family was held in debt slavery, including his father, grandfather, brothers and sisters, and Lal himself. He has memories of breaking stones all day alongside his family before he was rescued from bonded labor at the age of 7. He clearly recalls details, such as the way they were forced to bind their frequent cuts with clothes. Lal draws a clear line from that early experience to his passion for education and his mission as a human rights attorney.

According to a Grace Farms analysis, the raw and composite materials at highest risk of embedded slavery include rubber, glass, fiber and textiles, steel, electronics, bricks, timber, stone, copper, and iron—in other words, the basic materials that almost all modern buildings rely on.

I didn't go looking for this cause, but once I was aware of forced labor in construction, turning away wasn’t possible. After the Grace Farms discussion I was immediately inspired to throw myself into the work. What started as a small group of architects, journalists, labor experts, and craftspeople meeting informally at Grace Farms has since grown into Design for Freedom, an organization of several hundred members with an annual summit, quarterly working session meetings, multiple publications, and pilot projects. This past spring the annual Design for Freedom Summit at Grace Farms sold out all 550 seats.

How to take action

Early on, our Design for Freedom working group realized that architects and designers, however sympathetic to the cause, would need help navigating the complexities of forced labor. What were the actual steps they could take to start integrating ethical sourcing into their work? We decided that we needed to provide vetted resources and guidelines. Three of us from my office—James Slade, my husband and partner at Slade Architecture; our colleague, Greg Bencivengo; and myself—volunteered to co-author sections of a tool kit that would serve as a practical guide for industry professionals.

Some key components in the Design for Freedom International Guidance & Toolkit include contract language developed with attorneys that slots into the AIA standard contract; a template letter to send suppliers at project kickoff; and a tracking spreadsheet that becomes part of the drawing set. Critically, the tool kit also maps the terrain of risk, as some materials are more traceable than others.

Wood, for example, can usually be verified through Forest Stewardship Council, or FSC certification, which covers both sustainable harvesting and fair labor. But commodities such as steel and copper, which are purchased on exchanges, are much harder to trace. A material exchange aggregates individual portions of such materials into a co-mingled pool without distinguishing background information for each piece. Materials purchased this way are usually requisitioned by bulk; any unit is interchangeable with any other unit. In other words, it is not always possible to track the sourcing of a material coming through an exchange. To address that problem, when exact tracing isn’t achievable, our toolkit points designers toward lower-risk sourcing regions or recycled materials.

The first project our office delivered as a test of our newly minted methodology for tracing material sourcing was an assignment to reprogram and activate the outdoor spaces of an office park in the northeast. At the outset, we reached out to our preferred suppliers to alert them of the underlying ethical issue we were working to address and to inform them of our intention to provide transparent sourcing documentation. To our delight, most of the manufacturers responded immediately, forwarding detailed and specific origin information as well as certifications of their products.

In some cases, the information was readily available: We were able to trace sourcing for most of the large-scale wood furniture pieces to its origin forest areas and document that it was FSC-certified. There was one specific piece where we needed to dig a little deeper to find the original material sources to trace the specific trees. In this case, we were able to prove to our satisfaction that this piece was compliant.

There were a few commodity materials which we were unable to confirm to a satisfactory level of transparency; it is particularly hard to trace the origin for all the inputs in concrete or steel, for example. Still, this first test project confirmed our hopes. We felt that manufacturers’ ready and immediate responses confirming material sourcing was proof that we could bring this level of scrutiny into our projects. When suppliers know you're asking about this topic, it shifts the culture. Demand creates accountability and accountability creates change.

Clients, too, are ready for the conversation

Throughout history, construction has often evolved in response to awareness of problems. Building codes, fire safety regulations, and accessibility requirements often evolve when a problem becomes impossible to ignore. Fire safety codes, for example, were first recorded when Emperor Nero responded to a great fire in Rome. The Iroquois Theater fire in Chicago in 1903 and New York’s Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911 led to improvements in fire safety requirements. In our own era, designing for accessibility (ADA) and incorporating LEED principles have become absorbed into standard project delivery. At first, such new requirements can feel overly technical and complicated. The unfamiliar can feel burdensome. But after a transitional stage, measures that were once exceptional become standard practice.

It is my hope that the awareness of unethical hidden labor will now drive us all to demand transparent, principled labor practices throughout the entire supply chain as part of standard project protocol: a baseline expectation.

In order to make this happen, the most important group to reach is the client base. Until clients demand ethical materials, these practices won’t become industry standard. The best way to bring about this evolution is to bring clients along; if clients support the convictions of the design teams, the change will happen naturally. With our close client relationships, architects and designers can have a huge impact on the public perception, awareness, and ultimately demand.

In our own practice, we’ve found that clients are more willing to pay for ethical sourcing than you might think. The same homeowners who spend more for solar or geothermal want to pay a fair price for materials they know are not contributing to global suffering. Prince often points out that once consumers understand that an artificially reduced price is the result of a “slavery discount,” they will seek fairly-priced products. We’ve seen increased awareness in how food and clothing are sold; it's now time for this awakening to happen in our understanding of shelter.

As industry professionals raise this conversation with clients, it will begin to shape what the public comes to expect and demand. Working together, we have the power to make ethical labor as aspirational as good design itself.

For information on how to raise the issue of forced and slave labor in construction with your teams, ask questions of your suppliers, and confirm and document proof of ethical sourcing, visit designforfreedom.org