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Support grows for UK Green Building Council The BRE is one of the major stakeholders who actively supports the initiative to establish a UK Green Building Council (UK-GBC). The BRE believes a UK-GBC would provide focus and leadership for sustainable construction, helping to reduce the environmental impact of buildings by improving the way they are designed, built and managed. The Sustainable Building Task Group, set up by the ODPM to devise the Code For Sustainable Homes, has identified the need for existing sustainable construction activities in the UK to be consolidated. The Group believes this would provide a clearer direction for the building industry. BRE's Chief Executive, Martin Wyatt, supports the forming of a Green Building Council. ‘If real transformation is to take place on the scale required, a national coalition is essential to promote and champion the design and construction of sustainable buildings. A UK-GBC would do so in a practical and concerted manner for the benefit UK business as well as the environment.’ He told BFF.
The Council would be an industry initiative set up and run by stakeholders for the general good, with both the will and the financing to bring about real change.
‘This is a tried and tested model, and one that is operating successfully in eight countries around the world,’ says Wyatt. ‘In the US, where it has been operating for 11 years, we have seen the emergence of a body of green building practitioners and a dramatic rise in the number of buildings with low environmental impact. Thirty other countries are considering setting up national councils and becoming members of the World Green Building Council. I think that speaks for itself.’
The UK enjoys a reputation for being in the vanguard of sustainable design and construction. A UK-GBC will be able to draw on the wealth of guidance and tools that are available in the UK, including BREEAM, the international award winning environmental rating system for buildings. The key objectives of the UK-GBC will be to act as a champion for green buildings and to optimise profit for business by developing and enhancing the UK’s world class position in sustainable building design. A number of key organisations have already pledged their support for a UK Council.
For more information or to register interest in becoming a Founding Member, visit www.ukgbc.org. The Prospectus can be downloaded from the website or is available from harveyt@bre.co.uk Green Building Press back to homepage |
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