38 BUILT ENVIRONMENT
TAKING A SUSTAINABLE APPROACH
The founder of a planet-conscious building surveying consultancy issued a rallying calling for a ‘game-changing’ approach to sustainable development in Lancashire.
Gemma Cornwall from Ribble Valley based Viridium voiced her frustrations over the ‘kind of building we are doing’ currently.
She told the conference: “We have so much in Lancashire that is fantastic stock, and it has been left to be derelict and we have shopping centres that don’t look great.
“It is no good sticking a few solar panels here or there and EV chargers somewhere when you consider the embodied carbon that we are creating by knocking down these buildings which were only built in the last 100 years.”
Gemma added that planners in London would not consider new-build unless the feasibility of re-fitting a building was not an option.
She said: “We are a little behind London with that, but it will come here and we need to be doing that now.
We are doing some cool stuff in Lancashire. But we need to be changing the game
“The frustration is that instead of retro-fitting and refurbishing these, we are building on greenbelt or knocking down a site again and the carbon impact of that is monstrous.
“We are doing some cool stuff in Lancashire. But we need to be changing the game.”
She said: “Burnley College is doing a lot about sustainability and getting young people into jobs
that will have a massive sustainable impact.
“If we can double-down on the environmental side and if we have the Eden project as this flagship, we can be this beacon: where you go to know about how to do things properly outside London.”
Michael Conlon of Conlon Construction, based in Preston, championed the county, declaring the “skills are there in Lancashire” and “anything you want construction wise you can get here and very high skills at that”.
He said employing local people and building a local supply chain had stood the business in good stead for 45 years.
He said: “If you get a supply chain that works for you on a regular basis then you get to know the people there. They get to know you and the standards are better.”
He also added it was vital that the industry
Gemma Cornwall
Michael Conlon
Dan Hughes
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