The key to the code

This is absolutely right. Although the holy grail of sustainable building has become a preoccupation of many over the past few years, unfortunately most, if not all of us, have embarked on our journey without some pretty fundamental information. Like: where are we trying to get to? By when? And perhaps most importantly of all, where are we starting from? Because, let’s be honest, we haven’t the foggiest how most of our buildings really perform once they’ve left the drawing board.

That’s why the industry needs to be on the front foot, measuring real performance, learning the lessons and helping to set the agenda, not just reacting to the latest government policy. That’s why the UK Green Building Council’s members have advocated the need for a new kind of Code for Sustainable Buildings to rationalise all the different and often conflicting policies, regulations, standards and tools into a clear route map of where we need to get to, by when, and how we should measure progress.

It’s clear to us that the industry is quite happy to embrace the stretching sustainability targets we need in exchange for a bit of clarity, consistency and practical delivery. So let’s not whinge about it; let’s get on and agree what needs to be done.

Paul King, chief executive, UK Green Building Council