Changing Government Policy
An important consultation document was issued by the UK Government in 1998.1 Part of a wider
consultation exercise on sustainability, it discussed some principles of sustainable construction and current
practices in the industry. Following the consultation process, which brought in a relatively small number of
responses, a Government strategy based on this consultation process will soon be published, though it is
likely to fall well short of the standards advocated in this volume. While the government approach is hardly
radical, recognition of the subject is a huge step forward and is to be greatly welcomed.
Other steps have also been taken, in particular the establishment of a scheme to provide one day’s free
design advice to anyone planing to build a green building over 500 square metres. The Design Advice for
Greener Buildings scheme is funded by the DETR and administered by BRECSU.2 This scheme
demonstrates recognition of the importance of an holistic approach to consider all aspects of green building
rather than simply focusing on energy efficiency which was previously the only area where financial help was
available.
The construction industry has been under a great deal of scrutiny following the publication of the
“Latham” report and more recently the “Egan” report.3 Both these reports recognise the inefficiency of the
construction sector and the need to be more competitive and better managed. It is only in this economic
sense that sustainability is usually referred to and the debate about the nature of building construction in the
future largely ignores questions of environmental impact. Indeed the word sustainability only appears once,
in the Egan report (paragraph 58) with a call for greater priority to be given in the design and planning stage
to “flexibility of use, operating and maintenance costs and sustainability.”
While the UK lags behind, in some European countries, much higher standards and working practices
have been adopted. These include the careful separation of waste on site into separate skips so that it is then
recycled, the greater use of recycled materials in place of newly quarried aggregates and the elimination of
many toxic and non environmentally friendly materials to improve building worker safety and improve
indoor air quality. Most of these measures are covered by European directives and then enforced in
particular countries by building or local regulations
Demand for green materials?
At present most of these sustainability measures are barely on the agenda of the building regulation
formulation process in the UK and there are strong industry lobbies to maintain the status quo for as long as
possible. Many environmentally friendly products are now available in Europe, but few of them are sold in
bulk in the UK. This is surprising in that many producers and distributors of building materials and products
are multi national companies. Akzo Nobel, the Swedish company (of Nobel peace prize fame) for instance
own many of the paint companies in the UK and are in the process of marketing these products under the
name Akzo Nobel but it isn’t clear whether we can look forward to the introduction of Sweden’s higher
environmental standards into the UK paint industry5
One argument that is used by building companies, designers and suppliers in the UK is that clients are
not interested in eco products and so market forces continue to dictate that we continue to use materials that
are not so environmentally friendly as they could be. There is some evidence of this in that when
“Construction Resources” was set up in Southwark in London, the UK’s first eco builders merchants,6 many
of their suppliers in Germany and Holland were unwilling to invest in the centre because their market
research had told them there was little interest in the UK. In Germany, where there is even a federation of
eco builders merchants, green materials have a significant share of the market.7
However this is something of a chicken and egg situation. Clients are frequently not told about green
materials and even when they are interested, most materials cannot be sourced in normal ways, so if
builders cannot obtain them from their normal suppliers they won’t use them. If designers promoted green
materials and builders merchants stocked them, there would undoubtedly be greater use.
The public sector could give a lead in this respect so that local authorities, hospitals trusts and central
government could adopt green specification standards and because of the bulk of materials which they
order, the market would have to change to meet this demand. The Greening Government Section of the
DETR has produced an excellent report which gives guidance on how to achieve greener buildings.8 Apart
from covering most topics, under 38 headings, including indoor air quality, it has an excellent and
comprehensive set of appendices giving sources of information and useful contacts. Needless to say, the
Green Building handbook gets mentioned throughout. This document, which contains a Green Code for
Architects (based on BREEAM),9 would be very useful to anyone trying to persuade a sceptical public
sector client that green building is not a strange and hippie activity but quite normal and sanctioned by
Government.
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