Editor's comment: Why Brown is anything but green

Editor's comment: Why Brown is anything but green

Gordon Brown, it seems, is not a man committed to joined-up thinking – a trait that became painfully apparent in last week's Budget when he didn't even mention the opportunity to cut the VAT on building repair and improvement work.

It is ironic that the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is pouring millions of pounds into low-cost housing, and yet the Chancellor is content to carry on applying 17.5% to domestic building work. It would hardly appear to be good economic sense to build more houses when so much of Britain’s housing stock is lying empty, but could be brought back into use with some upgrading – which would be a lot cheaper under a 5% VAT regime rather than 17.5%.

The results of so many empty homes are graphically illustrated to anyone supporting CRASH, the construction industry's charity for the homeless. While its projects run throughout the UK, several are in London, where there are a whopping 91,000 empty homes. These would require an average of £12,000 spent on each to bring them up to a good standard of repair – much less than building new homes and a far easier, more sustainable way to provide affordable housing.

For a government so concerned with Kyoto and green issues, the fact that it's more cost-effective to demolish and rebuild public buildings such as schools, rather than upgrade them, must surely be at odds with its stated beliefs. And it can hardly be said to be sustainable, despite the fact that the new buildings meet current environmental standards.

It's not too late for the Chancellor to address this issue. But it's something he'd do well to tackle – and for someone who sees himself as the next incumbent of Number 10, this must surely be a vote winner all around.

Emma Penny, Editor, Contract Journal, 29 March 2006