In response to Robert Adam’s article “They’re having you on” (26 September, page 36), I would like to draw Mr Adam’s attention to the Construction Emissions Community of Practice (CECoP), an inclusive group of practitioners brought together to develop a fair and transparent methodology to assess the initial impact of buildings and establish benchmarks to compare against the building energy and operational ratings developed in the Energy in Buildings Directive.

The CECoP was set up in November 2007 and now represents more than 60 organisations including contractors, engineers, academics, environmental consultants and product manufacturers. Crucially, the BRE, Constructing Excellence, Wrap and the developers of Carbon Buzz are engaged with our community.

The impact of materials specified and processes on site will become part of environmental product declarations for buildings when CEN TC 350 is published. Until that time CECoP will endeavour to provide help in thinking about how the whole-life impact of building can be reduced.

Rosi Fieldson, senior architect, Simons Design, on behalf of CECoP

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