Olympic village fails to lead green agenda

Despite being badged as the ‘greenest games’ in modern times, the carbon emissions targets for the village fail to better the benchmarks recently proposed by the government for cutting CO2 emissions from new homes or the timetable for improving current Building Regs.

According to the sustainable development strategy published by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), the village will be only 25% more energy efficient than 2006 Part L Building Regulations. Yet the government is proposing that all new housing meets this target in 2010 anyway, two years before the Games take place. The proposals were outlined by the communities secretary, Ruth Kelly, at the end of last year which also called for a 44% improvement on Part L 2006 requirements by 2013, culminating in ‘zero carbon’ homes by 2016.

RIBA is urging the ODA to raise its sights. “The ODA should be going for gold with its plans for the Olympic village,” says RIBA president Jack Pringle. “This is a perfect opportunity to provide the most environmentally-friendly homes possible and show what Britain is capable of. Instead, the government and the ODA have been lapped by their own targets. They’re not even in the race.”

Ashley Bateson, principal of Hoare Lea’s sustainability group, says the target is nothing more than is set out in the 2005 consultation for Part L of the Building Regulations which calls for a 25% improvement on requirements every five years. “It’s basically what you would do for any project to make sure it meets the standards that will be current in 2010.”

The target set for the permanent venues to be reused after the Games is lower still at only 15% above current Part L requirements.

Other measures put forward in the ODA’s strategy include generating 20% of the energy demands in the immediate post-Games period via renewables.