Prime minister pledges to work with other Governments on new green standards at today’s Thames Gateway Forum

Gordon Brown today pledged to create a new Institute of Sustainability to drive up environmental standards in design and construction.

Speaking at the Thames Gateway Forum this afternoon the prime minister said his administration would work “with other governments in the world” in driving up environmental standards in design and construction. “We want to find the best ways to define, build, live and work in sustainable communities,” he said.

Brown also pledged that 80% of the 3 million houses the government plans to build in the next 13 years would be on brownfield land. “This offers strong protection for the greenbelt,” he said.

Brown added that in the Thames Gateway region there would be a focus on creating parks and green spaces as well as being more efficient in water usage. “An Environment Agency study has advised us that we can build 160,000 new homes with no overall growth in the demand for water.”

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