About this time last year, I wrote a piece saying that as far as sustainability was concerned, we should aim to persuade clients to it, not legislate heavily for it. This still holds true – clients should be educated to the advantages of sustainable, energy efficient buildings, and engineers have an important role to play in this. It's not impossible, because sustainable buildings are better all round, as has been demonstrated in BSJ many times.
But as for taking a light-handed approach to legislation, that may be another matter. The current Part L of the Building Regulations is basically set at the level of lowest common denominator. On the plus side, that means that it's more achievable for a greater number of projects. This is obviously a step in the right direction for the environment – better to be a little greener, than not at all.

There is a strong voice in the lobbying field which is always ready to point out that tough legislation will raise prices. In the domestic market, for example, the major house builders claimed that legislation to encourage better sound proofing would raise the cost of building homes – and the government backed off.

This kind of thing happens frequently. Vested interests will mention that consumers and commercial organisations will have to pay the price of such legislation, and that scares off a government which doesn't want to alienate voters or businesses.

So we often end up with sufficient legislation to get by, but not quite enough to make a real difference to how things are done in construction. It seems that we may be in for a long wait for developers and clients to take great strides towards better buildings on their own. There is little evidence that they're grasping the initiative.

Stronger legislation is needed if we are to see faster moves towards greater sustainability in buildings. The government has set its own targets for CO2 reductions, which look out of reach at the current rate of development. It is in the government's own interest too, to be tougher on the construction industry.

Overcoming the objections is not an easy step. 'It'll cost more' is a difficult argument to beat. However, the fact is that if we don't accept that tougher rules are needed, then it could cost the earth.

Source

Building Sustainable Design

Postscript

Karen Fletcher, Editor