Green Building Council plots sustainable future

Twenty founding members attended the inaugural meeting of the Green Building Council last week at Stanhope’s offices.

Their mission is to dramatically improve the sustainability of the built environment. At the same time, they will benefit commercially, by being at the forefront of a greening movement that is growing fast around the world. BRE will provide initial secretariat and support services. David Strong, managing director of BRE Environment, explains: “We also want to ensure we fully exploit the commercial opportunities that result from the green agenda.”

The members have each pledged £30,000 seedcorn funding for the first two years of the council’s existence. They have been drawn from groups across the board who are involved in the built environment: developers, materials suppliers, contractors, architects and building services consultants (see list below). But institutional investors and funders are conspicuous by their absence. “Efforts will be made to bring them in because they should be an important part of the founding members’ group,” said Strong.

“This is being driven by both the demand and the supply side. There is money to be earned out of this change,” he said. “People are beginning to demand higher performance buildings in terms of energy and environmental performance and those that have positioned themselves will do very well,” he said.

As an added attraction, cities and states around the world are asking for low environmental impact buildings, and involvement at this level will enable UK firms to compete internationally. Several names are being sounded out for the role of part-time chairman: a full-time chief executive will also be recruited. The council will be launched formally in the spring.

The move to make the building process and product more environmentally acceptable has been gaining momentum around the world. Eight countries have now joined the World Green Building Council and more than 20 countries are in the process of establishing green building councils.

The US council has more than 6,500 members, and 12,000 delegates attended its conference in Atlanta last year.

20 firms committed to a green future

Atelier Ten; Battle McCarthy; BDP; Bennetts Associates; BRE; British Land; Canary Wharf; Colliers CRE; Faber Maunsell; Fulcrum Consulting; Hammerson UK Properties; Hanson Building Products; International Business Events; King Sturge; Land Securities Group; Lend Lease Europe; Monodraught; ProLogis; Stanhope; Willmott Dixon Construction.

[Contract Journal, 18 October 2006, p 13]