How do you solve a problem like sustainability

Should we be importing wood pellets for biomass boilers in housing developments from Scandinavia or building nuclear power stations? Should we focus on making new homes zero carbon, or ensure that the environmental performance of existing housing is improved?

These are seriously big questions for the UK, and ones that are too big for the regeneration sector alone to resolve. And yet the industry is tasked with the challenge of delivering sustainable regeneration in towns and cities across the country on a daily basis.

Sustainability is therefore a natural subject for the first survey of the Regenerate Leaders, our think-tank of top executives within regeneration. The Regenerate Leaders are all firmly engaged in the government agenda to deliver sustainable physical regeneration, as senior players in local authorities, delivery agencies, housebuilders, developers and housing associations. Their answers to our survey reveal that the industry’s most senior figures are eager to act on sustainability, but desperate for a clearer lead from government on the most joined-up, sensible and effective way to respond.

Our first question to the leaders was: do you feel that there is enough common understanding of what sustainable regeneration – and specifically targets such as zero carbon – means? Every single respondent answered with an unambiguous no. Many respondents spoke of a need for clarity in the face of confused messages, jargon and sound bites.

There are 1,200km of sea defences, and rising sea levels leave the South-east region facing difficult decisions as to whether to maintain, improve or even abandon some of these defences.

Pam Alexander, SEEDA

Several respondents drew attention to the competing agendas surrounding the many and varied issues that come under the catch-all term of sustainability. There were concerns about government inconsistency and a lack of joined-up thinking, not least because these issues come under the remit of four different government departments.

When asked about the rapid pace of government policymaking, our leaders were fairly evenly divided on whether it was too fast, too slow or just right. It might be expected that the split might reflect a consensus of view from private sector and public sector think-tank representatives, but in fact that was not the case.

Those who considered it too fast were concerned that the government’s present course could not allow enough time for trialling and testing technology. A key area where some leaders felt that policy was moving too slowly was on existing housing stock, where zero carbon strictures do not apply. David Cowans, chief executive of Places for People, issued a call for action: “A coherent strategy and action plan for delivering 60% carbon emission savings across the whole housing sector by 2050 is urgently needed. This must include firm targets for the number of households to be transformed each year, and scale of energy savings to be delivered.”

The approach of stringent environmental standards for new homes, in the form of the Code for Sustainable Homes, has the potential to drive massive demand for environmental technology and is spawning a new breed of sustainability advisers and consultants. The majority of our leaders believe that there are not enough knowledgeable and experienced consultants, suppliers and manufacturers operating in the UK to help deliver sustainable regeneration at the right price. Some respondents remarked wryly that there were plenty of consultants in the sector, but that not all of them were highly expert in the field. All recognised that sustainability is an evolving sector, with a relatively new and immature market, and that there is a need to work with the supply chain and improve market demand.

Creating sustainable places involves dealing with more than just social, economic and environmental issues. We are working to create places that are culturally as well as ecologically sustainable.

Max Steinberg, Elevate

Our final question to our industry experts was an open one: what is the biggest sustainability/environmental challenge that your organisation faces in delivering physical regeneration at this time? The responses were wide-ranging. Some highlighted the bureaucracy and legislation surrounding delivery, others raised concerns about the risks of being pressed into using potentially untested environmental technology. A commonly voiced challenge was zero carbon/the Code for Sustainable Homes, and specifically the need to balance that with the costs of developing environmentally friendly homes and deliver all other aspects of sustainability.

Terms such as “balance” and “conflicting demands” came up again and again in the Leaders’ responses. As Alan Cherry, chairman of Countryside Properties, put it: “You can embrace just part of the sustainability agenda and do it well, but if you don’t engage with all the issues, then it’s not a truly sustainable solution.

“All the issues are important – it is a question of balance that must be understood and appreciated. Zero carbon should be balanced with mixed-tenure homes, adequate social and community facilities, sustainable infrastructure and greater use of public transport. Bringing all these things together is the biggest challenge.” And at the moment, it is one on which the government appears to be offering inadequate guidance.