News

Green agenda still faces too many barriers, says study

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A ‘plethora’ of government policies and initiatives has

hindered progress on greening Britain’s buildings, according to a major new report. The study from the Innovation

& Growth Team (IGT), a cross-industry body set up by government to assess the state of the construction sector, points to a range of ‘barriers’ to implementing the low-carbon buildings agenda in the UK. Too many policies and reports

from government departments and non-governmental bodies are ‘incapable of absorption by businesses who need to focus on the more immediate interests of their own clients’, the report says. Another major concern is the ‘evidential gap between the design criteria of buildings in use and their performance on completion’, it says. The report says government should consider re-introducing

Gold for Dubai

The US$3.6bn ‘Dubai Pearl’ development in Australia has achieved LEED Gold pre-certified status. The 1.85m sq m mixed-use development incorporates a large- scale solar boosted hot water plant, a high efficiency building façade, heat recovery systems and intelligent building, according to building services engineers Meinhardt.

Aircon inspection report rules may be tightened

The lodging of air conditioning inspection reports would become mandatory in the UK under plans being considered by the government. The move has been welcomed

by CIBSE, which believes it would increase compliance with the regulations. Under current rules, new air conditioning installations or systems above 250kW should have been inspected by January 2009, and any system above 12kW should

www.cibsejournal.com

be inspected by January 2011, and then at five-yearly intervals. Ministers are now also looking

at requiring the ‘lodgement’ of air conditioning reports (ACRs) in England and Wales, according to the new consultation document, Making better use of energy performance certificates and data, At present there is no central

register for ACRs, leaving government and industry with little or no information on aircon performance or efficiency, no way

of monitoring standards, ensuring quality or knowing what impact energy saving recommendations are having on carbon emissions. Bryan Franklin, CIBSE Low

Carbon Consultant steering group chairman, said: ‘Air conditioning inspections already have the lowest compliance rates – well below five per cent – and if these issues are not resolved, it is difficult to see how the industry can increase compliance.’

www.communities.gov.uk See ‘EPC rules flouted’, page 16

BDP opens in

throughout its supply chain, can work more closely together and become ‘integrated’. Paul Morrell, the government’s

new chief construction adviser who leads the IGT, said: ‘No one should underestimate the sheer scale of the opportunity the transition to a low carbon economy will offer the construction industry. ‘The requirement for low carbon

Paul Morrell... Lays out strategy

independent ‘audits’ of buildings’ energy performance, which should be compared with their design intentions. All publicly funded construction

projects could be used as test beds for a green ‘transformation’ of the industry, it adds. The industry itself needs to

devise a ‘tighter’ description of how the different parts of the sector,

construction is probably the biggest change management programme that the industry has faced since Victorian times. The industry and government need to rise to this challenge.’ Business secretary Lord Mandelson welcomed the report, adding: ‘The construction industry is central to the UK meeting our stretching carbon targets.’ The IGT report is an interim

study and will be followed by a final document due at the end of this year.

www.bis.gov.uk/constructionIGT

Abu Dhabi

Europe’s largest building design practice, BDP, has announced that it has opened a studio in Abu Dhabi after agreeing to merge with locally based multidisciplinary design practice SYNA. SYNA has more than 30 years of experience of designing viable and successful projects across the Gulf particularly in the hospitality sector, and has had offices in Abu Dhabi since 1993. BDP has recently been growing

its presence in the Middle East but chose to merge with SYNA because of its ability to deliver complex projects through understanding the region’s culture and practices. ‘Now is the right time for BDP to

become a true global player,’ said David Cash, BDP’s international director.

WSP acquisitions

to continue

WSP Group has announced its intention to carry on acquiring companies in the future, after announcing a significant drop in profits. The company’s turnover dropped

four per cent to £723m in 2009, with pre-tax profits falling from £52.1m to £25.4m during the same period. The company admitted it had

been ‘a testing year’, but that performance had largely been in line with expectations. But chairman Chris Turner vowed

that the business would continue to make progress as markets improve. He said: ‘We have a track record

of successfully acquiring and integrating people businesses and we expect this activity to continue when appropriate. We have positioned the business to succeed in these challenging times.’

WYG ‘progress’

on debts

Converting more than £50m of debts into new shares has led to ‘good progress’ for consulting engineers WYG. The company reduced its debts

by £52.9m during the year after agreeing terms that gave its banks a 60 per cent share in the company. During the six months to 31 December, turnover dropped by 20 per cent to £115m, with a loss before tax of £4.6m.

April 2010 CIBSE Journal

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