Get Sust! Issue 27

Say hello to the UK GBC

The main event at this year’s Innovations for the Built Environment conference (which incorporates EcoBuild) was the national launch of the UK Green Building Council.

Modelled on ‘green building councils’ around the world, the UK GBC is a coalition of 36 leading UK built environment organisations whose collective aim is to ‘dramatically improve the sustainability of the built environment by radically transforming the way it is planned, designed, constructed, maintained and operated’.

Ambitious! But with founding members such as Arup, Faber Maunsell, British Land, Lend Lease, Aggregate Industries, Land Securities Group, Sir Robert McAlpine, Willmott Dixon Construction and Nationwide Building Society, this group really has the power to influence. But the question is, what exactly are they going to do?

It’s early days yet, of course - they’ve only been ‘launched’ for a fortnight - but the signs are they’re going to aim high and move fast.

“Incremental change is a luxury we can no longer afford,” said UK GBC Chairman, Peter Rogers (Director Stanhope plc), at the launch event. His first move was to appoint a high-profile chief executive - Paul King, formerly Director of Campaigns for the WWF (where he led the highly effective One Million Sustainable Homes campaign) and co-founder of One Planet Living.

The UK GBC’s intention is to promote the development and application of the UK’s well-respected environmental assessment tools and provide a single pan-industry voice to Government. But perhaps most significant is the fact that so many of the industry’s key players have agreed to participate - basically putting their reputations on the line in the name of sustainability.

Let’s hope they can pull it off; but equally, let’s hope that they don’t spend all their time just talking to each other... They need to spare a thought for the next generation of construction professionals and exert their considerable influence among the construction education community too.

Learn more:

•

Details of the UK Green Building Council are at www.ukgbc.org.