Green alliance boost for the environment and industry
A prospectus for a UK Green Building Council was launched recently. Could it bring bottom line benefits to many in the construction industry?
Two years ago, the Sustainable Building Task Group highlighted the need for existing sustainable construction activities to be consolidated in order to provide a clear direction for the industry. The setting up of a UK-GBC would serve this purpose precisely, by working in unison towards a common goal.
In many ways, the UK already has a head start on other countries. Our government is driving increasingly tough environmental strategies via the Building Regulations and initiatives such as the Low Carbon Building Programme. Local authorities are setting their own sustainability targets with which developers are required to comply. And best practice guidance, design tools and environmental rating schemes which have become industry standards in this country, are winning international acclaim.
However, impressive though this sounds, in fact it is only a minority of our buildings that are designed or refurbished to a sustainable brief. If we are to move sustainable design and sustainable construction from the exception to mainstream, a much bigger, cross the board effort is needed. We need to pull the best and the brightest together into an industry coalition that has the focus and the determination to move forward at a faster pace.
I believe a UK-GBC would be the best way of doing this. It would form strategic alliances between members, key industry stakeholders, research and technology organisations and government bodies at the national and local level to lead market transformation and educate owners and practitioners. And its mission to champion green buildings would focus on optimising profit for business as well as the environment.
In a world that abounds with overstated sound bites, it is important to make clear that these claims should in no way be regarded as hype. In America for instance, the USGBC has been instrumental in creating a vibrant green building movement. The transformation has been rapid and ubiquitous, and the result has been a dramatic increase in the number of buildings with demonstrably lower environmental impact. The market for service providers and product manufacturers is highly buoyant and profitable, and the call for green construction products is also stimulating major competitor activity and encouraging innovation. As a result of the growing client demand for green buildings, many companies are differentiating their services by only designing or building sustainable buildings.
Success will depend on attracting a core group of independent visionary leaders who are dedicated and passionate about green buildings and have access to seed-corn funding. The proposal is that the UK-GBC would obtain sufficient start-up funding to enable full-time staffing for the first two to three years, and become self-funding by the end of the third year.
Given the UK’s international standing as a champion of sustainable development, it is perhaps an anomaly that we have not yet set up a national Green Building Council. Eight other countries have already done so and 30 others are said to be actively considering the case. A number of key organisations have already pledged their support for a UK council and I would urge those who have not already done so, to seriously consider the case.
For further information, see www.ukgbc.org
