Sustainability

Simon Richards is the sustainability director at Sir Robert McAlpine As the most recent host of the Climate Change Conference, it seems fair to assume that the UK was set to enjoy a high profile at the next meeting of the event (6-18 November), better known as COP27. Expectations are…

The cost of steel rose so steeply this year that even some of the biggest project managers in the country were beginning to feel the heat. Prices, which had been largely stable at around £350 per tonne, were suddenly hitting levels of between £500 and £700, and even more. The…

By Tony Selwyn, head of environmental planning at Plowman Craven Whilst enjoying an ice cream on a recent holiday, I couldn’t help but notice the idling engine of the ice cream van nearby. Not great in terms of either noise or air pollution, but essential for a large majority of…

Paul Reeve is director of CSR at engineering services body ECA We are all too aware of the energy price shock. But sometimes forgotten in the current crisis is the contribution low carbon technologies make to lowering energy bills. Business investment in such technologies can significantly reduce lighting, heating and…

Phillipa Grant is a partner and global director of sustainability at AESG Following a compromised outcome in Glasgow last year, with 200 countries agreeing climate action must accelerate to keep the Paris commitment goals alive, the political, economic and environmental turmoil of 2022 threatens the international cooperation and focus needed…

Paul Astle is Building Structures Sustainability Lead at Ramboll As an industry, we don’t know how exactly much concrete we use. While the Materials Product Association (MPA) estimates that 37.5 million cubic metres of concrete are used each year across the UK, the reality is that we don’t have a detailed…

Peter Sayce is chief product officer at Bramble Energy Is the wider construction industry overlooking the potential of hydrogen to reduce the sector's contribution to climate change? Hydrogen technology offers high efficiency and versatility, as well as longer range and usage for equipment – key benefits for construction. And, unlike…

Phil Smith is a director at Rund Partnership, a specialist surveying and construction consultancy The adoption of sustainable construction methods is crucial to reducing an organisation's impact on the environment. For the record, the construction sector accounts for 40 per cent of worldwide CO2 emissions and 36 per cent of…

The incoming government needs to urgently address the negative impact of the new post-Brexit standards regime on the building products market, finds Greg Pitcher The year was 1993. Inflation ran as low as 1.6 per cent, Manchester United won the inaugural Premier League and the CE mark was introduced in…

Mat Lown is head of ESG and sustainability at TFT Consultants Among the biggest issues currently facing the UK construction industry are the risks associated with global supply chains. We are all aware of the contributing factors and the impact they can have on construction projects. In particular, rising development…