Leader

This is significant because it completes the process started with the strategy's launch last year. However, if it is to have relevance, it must be repeated each year as the strategy is developed.

Development of the strategy implies work on the sustainability of bricks and brickwork in use. The industry has a good story to tell and the Sustainability Working Party is busy assembling it.

Sustainability is an issue that is not going to fade away. The government has launched a review of its own strategy entitled Taking It On, which is now out for consultation. The aim is to produce a strategic framework for sustainable development into 2020.

The Better Buildings Summit held in the autumn of 2003 was supported by three government departments, which set up a Sustainable Buildings Task Group. This group has now recommended the establishment of a Code of Sustainable Building.

The brick industry is well placed to take commercial advantage of this growing interest in sustainability. Thanks to the foresight of its members we have a strategy and a plan of action. It will be fascinating to see how it all develops over the next few years.