Green building news

A parliamentary inquiry is being launched to explore ways of making the UK's existing commercial and industrial building stock more energy efficient. Buildings account for over 50% of UK carbon emissions, half of which is contributed by commercial buildings, but little has been done to tackle the problem.

Conducted by the All Party Urban Development Group, a committee of MPs and peers that examines regeneration policy, the inquiry will consider how to improve performance, the barriers to cutting carbon emissions and how to overcome them through regulation and fiscal incentives and penalties.

Subcontractors will have to brush up on their technological expertise if they are to win work building zero carbon homes according to Barratt chief executive Mark Clare, who was quoted in Construction News this week (CN).

The housebuilder is currently building the first zero-carbon community at Hanham Hall near Bristol, which when finished will feature 200 units and is the first of English Partnerships' Carbon Challenge sites.

'The next generation of suppliers will be potentially a very different supply base,' said Clare. 'We are looking for different technical solutions and we would expect them to develop technology that enables us to deliver zero-carbon homes.'

Finally, in an effort to expand green building knowledge within the industry, the Energy Savings Trust (EST) has told major housebuilders it works with to reveal their commercial secrets to help smaller firms meet energy efficiency targets.

The EST expects larger builders to foot the bill for experimenting with new technology, then pass on the information to others. Contract Journal ran the story.