Findings from the Low Carbon Construction Innovation and Growth Team published
The Innovation and Growth Team (IGT) is a group compiled from the construction industry and UK Government. It has been tasked by the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills to consider and recommend to Government how the UK construction industry can rise to the challenge of the low carbon agenda.
On 17 March, the IGT published their Emerging Findings Report. The report undertakes a strategic review of the construction industry’s readiness to deliver on the low carbon agenda, and develop a route map for the transition to the very different world that would follow a 29% cut in emissions by 2022, and an 80% cut by 2050.
Key messages from the Emerging Findings
- The Low Carbon Transition Plan sets out how the UK will achieve the targets from the Climate Change Act to cut CO2 emissions. Almost every proposition in it represents a market for construction if the barriers can be overcome, so it is virtually a business plan for the Construction Industry over the next 20 years.
- We need to develop new buildings that enable their owners and occupiers to lead more energy efficient lives without loss of comfort. We need to extend the same thinking to the 28 million existing buildings in the UK, and make them as good as they can be too; and we need to build the infrastructure that will support the production of “clean” energy and the operation of sustainable transport systems
- This is a huge opportunity; a programme measured in hundreds of billions of pounds which can help reshape the industry to become a more integrated, collaborative and progressive industry which attracts the brightest people.
- Transitions to low carbon and high performance should be seen as part and parcel of the same challenge. To take advantage of this the Construction Industry needs to develop a shared sense of purpose and a clear vision of the future so it can play a leadership role in the move to low carbon.
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Click here to download the full report.
