August 4, 2004—A new drive to cut greenhouse gas emissions will be at the heart of an industry Code for Sustainable Buildings, said UK Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott recently.
Nearly fifty per cent of CO2 emissions in the UK are caused by building, maintaining and occupying buildings.
The Government gave the green light to the Code in its response to the Sustainable Buildings Task Group report, in which experts from the private, public and non-governmental sectors pinpointed ways in which industry and Government can work together to promote sustainable development.
The new code will establish higher standards for energy and water efficiency, as well as waste and use of materials. This will help to deliver truly sustainable buildings and is expected, through increased efficiency, to generate substantial savings for industry and consumers. Government calls on the whole of the building industry to embrace the Task Group’s recommendations. The first outline of the Code should be complete in time for the Sustainable Communities Summit in January 2005.
A project group will be set up immediately to establish the main criteria of the Code, as well as set up a senior steering group to fully develop the Code. Direct industry involvement in the project group is welcomed and will be core to the membership of the senior steering group. The group will work with local authorities and developers to ensure that a sufficient number of demonstration schemes in the Thames Gateway, and potentially elsewhere, are established. Part of the demonstration process will be to carry out a full regulatory impact assessment and economic assessment.
The Code should be complete by the end of 2005, in order to take action on a national rollout by early 2006.
For more information, contact the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
