The speakers were: David Coles of management consultancy KPMG's sustainability advisory service; Ian Rothwell, design manager for Carrillion Building; and Anthony Sampson from insurance company CGNU's environmental management division.
Coles spoke about the development of sustainability as a concept, from the 1980s to the present day. He commented that legislation originally imposed sustainable goals on the industry twenty years ago.
But he also pointed out that the move towards internalising the costs of environmental damage through taxation was a more effective method of encouraging companies towards sustainability. Commenting on US President Bush's attitude towards the environment, Coles said: "The administration is trying to pretend that resources aren't finite. That's an aberration." Ian Rothwell offered his experiences of working on the Queen Margaret Hospital in Swindon.
This is a pfi project, on which environmental reporting was used. Rothwell commented: "Sustainable development is about doing things in a new way." Anthony Sampson presented the financial view of sustainability, and emphasised its increasing profile in the City. He took a very positive view of the future of sustainable construction, saying that it would increasingly be a yardstick by which companies are measured.
Source
Building Sustainable Design