Rogers: Government lacks direction on sustainability

The head of a new industry environmental body has urged the Government to introduce "sensible policy and direction" into the drive for sustainable development.

Former Constructing Excellence and Strategic Forum boss Peter Rogers, who is interim chairman of the UK Green Building Council, said there was a frustration amongst developers and funders about new policies such as local authorities demanding renewable targets for new schemes.

Rogers said: "Funders are prepared to put money into sustainable development but there’s a frustration that there’s currently no sensible policy or direction from the Government."

In an interview with a new blog site on sustainability created by Building's publisher Rogers said the industry needed a cohesive lobbying voice. "There are lots and lots of very good green organisations but there is a lack of cohesion," he said.

And he defended current environmental building standards, claiming there was no need for Government or industry to introduce a new one. "We have BREEAM which already works. There is a British trait to complain about existing systems and look for new ones, but developers have told us this would create chaos. We don’t need a new standard - let’s build on solid foundations."