These are utterly incredible times for everybody. Governments all over Planet Earth are responding to the Coronavirus pandemic like no other human-made event in history. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to think that this ability to pass legislation, to mobilise people and resources for good, could lead to a similar effort to tackle the climate emergency and the construction industry’s part in it?

We are primed to do the right thing. Over 75% of UK citizens live in UK regions where the local authority has declared a climate and ecological emergency. Politicians have then committed to being Net-Zero Carbon by 2030 or 2035, without really knowing exactly how to get there! However some people have a bit of a clue. The UK Green Building Council, the RIBA, and the London Energy Transformation Initiative (LETI), pretty much agree on the much-reduced ‘embodied’ and ‘In-use’ energy benchmarks that will take the construction industry on a very steep decent towards Net-Zero Carbon by 2050. This is significant as our industry accounts for about 45% of annual carbon emissions, 50% of raw material consumption and 60% of the UK’s waste. If we can change the way we design, build, inhabit, maintain and de-construct our built environment we will make a huge difference.

Keep well and safe.

Duncan Baker-Brown, Senior Lecturer University of Brighton and Co-Founder, BBM Sustainable Design

Date: 16 April 2020