Arup director on sustainability: communities should be retrofitted

Communities of up to 100,000 people should retrofit their homes street-by-street to reduce buildings’ impact on climate change, a leading engineer has proposed.

Arup director Peter Head, named by the Guardian as one of the top 50 people who can save the world, last night urged engineers to take drastic steps to reduce global warming.

Central to his proposals was a major overhaul of cities, the use of renewable energy, construction of “green” roofs and use of skyscrapers as greenhouses to grow food in.

He said renewable energy should be brought in from African deserts, wind power from the Atlantic seaboard and hydro from Scandinavia to power UK cities.

High speed rail links were also key, as was the display of buildings’ energy performance data for all to see.

He said work should begin on pilot projects immediately or further economic growth would begin to cost developed nations around the world.

“The global economy is so big that the loss of the ecosystem will cost us more than growth is worth,” he said.

“We can’t hang around much longer. I actually believe we can do it and I see a real hunger to do it. But I am not optimistic about the UK. It seems stuck.

“We need to get a project in the UK quickly or people won’t be convinced it can be done.”

Mr Head’s comments came at an Institute of Civil Engineers lecture on his paper about the role of the engineer in the ecological age.

He plans to take the paper around the world with a final presentation at the Copenhagen Climate Council summit on climate change in 2009.

“By then it will be our last chance to save the world,” he said.