"Sustainability as an issue or even a recognisable topic, was not really on the agenda ten years ago and although it was being discussed five years ago it is really only in the last 12 months that it has begun to bite.

"The biggest change that we are seeing at PB is a move from rhetoric and discussion to the actual employment of our specialists as sustainability consultants on major regeneration projects. It is also now filtering down to the level of planning applications on relatively small-scale housing developments."

Duncan Sanders, Business Development Director - Environmental Engineering Group, Parsons Brinckerhoff