The government has set up a taskforce to drive up environmental standards in new and existing buildings, despite concerns that it will duplicate the work of an existing government body.
The Sustainable Buildings Task Group will look at ways of spreading and rewarding best practice in the construction sector. It will focus on water usage, energy usage, waste reduction and the use of timber and other construction materials.

It will report back in February 2004, the first anniversary of the Communities Plan.

The group has come under fire for duplicating the remit of Constructing Excellence, the quango set up to improve standards in the construction industry.

A senior source at Constructing Excellence said he had not been consulted about the new group and that it showed a lack of joined-up thinking across government.

Launching the Sustainable Buildings Task Group at the Better Buildings Summit in London on Tuesday, environment secretary Margaret Beckett said: "Business as usual is not an option."

The membership of the group has not been announced, but Beckett and Patricia Hewitt, minister for trade and industry, co-chair a cross-departmental working group on sustainable energy and may take on the new committee.

At the same event, Hewitt announced new "green" standards for all public sector developments. Details are not finalised but the standards are to be in place by the middle of next year.

Deputy prime minister John Prescott said national standards for water conservation and higher standards for boilers will be set by 2005, at the same time as changes to building regulations on energy efficiency are rolled out.

He also said he supported the use of tax credits to encourage sustainable development.

Source

Housing Today