By John Alker, Director of Policy & Communications, UK-GBC
Back in 2004 a few hundred enthusiasts gathered in the QEII centre for a small green building conference called EcoBuild. Fast forward to 2013 and the event has grown into the world’s largest for sustainable design, construction and the built environment, with 60,000 people taking over the ExCeL centre for three days in March.
So it seems timely to take stock of the progress the green building movement has made – to celebrate some of its achieve
ments, but be realistic about how far we still have to go. These are my observations:
Sustainability is shaking off the ‘niche’ image
A decade ago sustainability was still seen by most in the industry as being a fringe interest, only associated with a few muesli-munching architects and engineers. These days that couldn’t be further from the truth, with your average EcoBuild attendee just as likely to be wearing a pinstripe suit as sandals. I’d argue the previous Government’s zero-carbon policy was one of the biggest drivers behind this.
However, having established sustainability as a mainstream issue, the next step is arguably more challenging. We need to get beyond sustainability as a ‘bolt on’, an extra, and embed it into core business – this is one of the goals of UK-GBC’s education programme. Whole project teams should take responsibility for sustainability, not just an individual. To play devil’s advocate, shouldn’t the sustainability consultant be surplus to requirements, because such a high level of sustainability knowledge is so embedded across all the professions?
Industry leaders are stepping up
We probably couldn’t have made such good progress on mainstreaming sustainability without buy-in from senior leaders in the industry. Of course there is a way to go, but we have been hugely encouraged with the genuine enthusiasm and engagement we have seen from CEOs and Board-level directors across the built environment sector through our leadership programme. We have seen about 100 such delegates not only go through a fairly intensive immersion in sustainability, but then stay involved through an ongoing and active network.
It’s pretty obvious, but without the buy-in from the people at the top, you can’t drive change throughout an organisation. But the big challenge to these leaders going forwards is how do they go beyond a greener version of business-as-usual? How do they interrogate their business models and look for innovative and radical new ways to create value? In a future in which resources are more constrained, successful businesses will not even use the word ‘sustainability’ – it will simply be their default mode, where the core business of the enterprise enhances people’s quality of life and the natural environment.
There is better collaboration between organisations
As sustainability has risen up the agenda, the number of organisations taking an interest in it has risen accordingly. It would be churlish to complain – it’s a by-product of a positive trend – but it can make life difficult for industry and government to really get clarity over what are complex issues.
UK-GBC was established precisely to help overcome this proliferation of initiatives and forge some consensus on the key issues. So it’s again timely that EcoBuild sees the launch of a new online platform, called Pinpoint, which has the involvement of a fantastic number of trade bodies, professional institutions and NGOs. These groups have come together to support a search engine, which points industry professionals to the most appropriate sustainability resources for their product, project or organisation.
This sort of collaboration is not completely unprecedented, but I think we’re seeing it much more often, and to more constructive ends. Earlier this year we orchestrated an open letter to Government on five key green-building policy issues, which had the support of the Home Builders Federation, British Property Federation, RICS and others. That can only be a good thing, as Government and industry hears a consistent – and progressive – voice from the sector.
The rise of the business case
It’s an old chestnut, but you often hear discussions about the extent of the ‘green premium’ for sustainable buildings (most often in the commercial stock, but the same principles apply in residential too). However, there’s a consensus emerging that while searching for the green premium is a bit of a wild goose chase, there is increasingly a ‘brown discount’ applied to buildings that are not green, and that sustainability is increasingly being factored into decisions on risk.
The business case for green buildings is being increasingly well documented. At EcoBuild, the World GBC is launching its ‘compendium’ of evidence from around the world on the positive impact that green buildings can have on a range of factors from health and well-being to productivity.
One of the significant drivers for the business case in the UK is the commitment in the Energy Act 2011 that buildings rated F or G on their EPC cannot be leased beyond 2018. That could be a bit of a game changer if implemented thoughtfully. Speaking of which…
Government policy - one step forwards, two steps back
Surely we have never had a Government with ministers on such a wide spectrum in terms of their outlook to the green agenda. Ironically it doesn’t always follow a blue/yellow coalition divide, either. On the one had you have ministers like Ed Davey and Greg Barker, who are genuinely driven by the sustainability agenda and absolutely ‘get’ both the urgent need and the tremendous opportunity. On the other hand you have some ministers in key posts who don’t actually believe in what their departments are designed to do.
So it’s no surprise that Government policy is a real mixed bag. There are some attempts to be progressive – the Green Investment Bank, the Green Deal, and the minimum performance standards described above Act. Unfortunately, the Treasury tends to maim most of the decent policies coming out of other parts of Government, while the Government’s dangerous obsession with “One in, two out” on regulation is actually hugely counter-productive and scuppers sensible attempts to bring forward smart regulation.
It seems a shame to end on a negative, but it’s clear to me that Government has some catching up to do. The great irony is that Government is desperate for some positive news on the economy. What on earth is EcoBuild, if not an indication that this sector represents the best opportunity for green growth?
