Out-Law / Your Daily Need-To-Know

Green Construction Board to receive £1m funding to support sector's low carbon transition

15 May 2012, 4:51 pm

The Green Construction Board (GCB) is to receive £1 million public funding to support the construction sector's transition to a low carbon economy, the Government has announced.

Business Minister Mark Prisk announced the Government's investment, which will be used to bolster the GCB's operations and support projects requiring additional funding, ahead of the Board's third meeting.

"The Government is determined to maximise the opportunities for UK construction in sustainable development," said Prisk, who co-chairs the GCB. "The money will enable the Board to take forward a large programme of activities through the voluntary contributions of many people from the industry, who are keen to engage with us regularly to accelerate the transition to a low carbon economy."

The additional funding would, he said, enable the Board to ensure particular tasks backed by industry contributions would be "delivered more quickly, or in more depth, than would otherwise be the case".

The GCB was established in November 2011 to deliver the Government's Low Carbon Construction Action Plan and is made up of seven working groups consisting of representatives from the Government and design, construction, infrastructure and property industries. The Action Plan is a programme of activity aimed at decarbonising the industry through Government and industry cooperation, incentives and interventions.

As well as taking on the existing work of the previous Sustainable Construction Task Force to oversee sustainable property and construction issues, the GCB also plans to create a 'knowledge database' for low carbon and research development, and has issued a call for evidence from the industry.

"We have made considerable progress already and will be working even harder over the coming months," said Dan Labbad, fellow co-chair of the GCB. The Board intends to publish a final version of its 'Routemap', setting out how the industry will contribute towards meeting the UK's 2050 carbon reduction targets, by the end of the year and will develop guidance to show construction businesses the "top twenty steps they should take to green their operations", he said.

The GCB will also publish a set of case studies from the infrastructure sector that Labbad said would "demonstrate that cash and embodied carbon reductions can go hand in hand".