Sustainability

Derek Horrocks is chair of the National Home Decarbonisation Group (NHDG) To calm fears that undoubtedly arose following the recent rollback of several government green initiatives, including the disbanding of the energy-efficiency taskforce, the government has pledged a further £80m to the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF). By its own…

Helena Rivers is net-zero lead for buildings and places at consultancy Aecom The National Infrastructure Commission’s (NIC) recent assessment of how infrastructure could support economic growth and tackle climate change made a bold statement. In essence, it recommended that the government should no longer pursue the rollout of hydrogen heating…

Mat Ilic is co-founder and chief executive of climate ed-tech firm Greenworkx, and a former special adviser at No 10 Downing Street The question of how to deliver a fair and equitable transition to net zero has been under the microscope in recent weeks following the UK government’s climate-policy U-turns.…

Dan Whiteley is environmental sustainability director at Bam UK & Ireland In the lead-up to the COP28 climate-change conference, which starts at the end of November, its president-designate, Sultan Al-Jaber, issued a rallying call to the private sector, highlighting the role the summit must play in supporting the objectives of…

Kingsley Clarke is operations lead at Southern Construction Framework There are only a few months to go until the launch of phase three of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, providing £1.4bn of grant funding up until 2026 to support public sector organisations to meet net-zero targets. With the built-environment sector…

Clive Feeney is group managing director for LHC Procurement Group Prime minister Rishi Sunak’s decision to push back the deadlines for key energy-efficiency policies, including allowing existing fossil-fuel heating systems to be used in certain homes for almost an additional decade, has been roundly criticised as undermining the UK’s ability…

When it comes to tackling the biggest culprits for embodied carbon in the built environment, silver bullets are in short supply. By Kristina Smith The construction industry is awash with decarbonisation roadmaps and plans for achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Most have milestone goals set at 2030 – an…

Will new regulations be enough to reduce the fire-safety risk posed by cavities in modular built structures? Ian Weinfass reports More than eight months have passed since fire-service bosses published a five-page document outlining a litany of concerns about modular buildings. Their warning came a year after structural safety-reporting body…

Etienne Sharp is an associate director at design and architecture practice MoreySmith  Repurposing and repositioning old-stock buildings to create business headquarters and office workspaces is a process that presents a unique set of challenges for developers and architects alike. It requires a delicate balance between preserving historic charm and incorporating…

Decarbonising the nation’s homes requires an immense and multifaceted retrofit effort – but is the construction sector sufficiently skilled to deliver it? Keith Cooper investigates Turning tens of millions of homes green is a huge task for construction, and its workforce will play a pivotal role. But it’s a job…