NEWS EXTRA: BMF CONFERENCE DON’T BUILD CRAP HOUSES
The whole construction industry has a major part to play in combating climate change and ensuring its own sustainable future at the same time, Lord Deben, chairman of the Committee for Climate Change told the BMF Virtual Conference.
“YOUR INDUSTRY IS very much at the centre and heart of what we have to do to combat climate change,” said Lord Deben, chairman of the Committee for Climate Change. “A long- standing chairman of Coca Cola, once told me that, for him, sustainability starts with the business still being here in 125 years just like it’s been here for 125 years. Sustainability is about a successful business, continuing. And what is happening today is that we recognise that successful businesses will not continue, unless they take into account all the major changes that we see. “The government is committed to reducing our emissions to net zero by 2050. Now that is a statutory requirement. The law says that that’s what we have to do. And to get there we have a series of budgets with the sixth carbon budget being produced by the climate change committee in October. Once these budgets are voted upon, they become law and they cannot be changed unless the climate change committee decides to change them, something they are not likely to do, not while I am chairman in any case.”
However, because some of the requirements of previous budgets have not yet been met, Lord Deben said that the industry can expect to see some very big changes which will affect it considerably over the next year. “Mr Johnson’s build, build, build strategy, as long as it’s done in the right way, is absolutely right, and the key aspect is the huge need to retrofit our homes and our commercial buildings, so that they are much more energy efficient,” he said.
“The sad thing is, and I have to blame the house builders for this, since the government reneged on its zero-carbon target, we built a million houses, which have got to be retrofitted. I’ve been rude
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One of the things I really dislike about government is that it isn’t, willing very often, to bring everybody into the whole issue.
enough to talk about crap houses in the past, but I do think that it is an unacceptable thing to build a house in which you hand the person who buys it long term energy price commitment, which you didn’t need to give them. Build a house properly. Build a house according to standards which are close to Passive Haus. Do what they’re doing in many other countries. And then people have very, very low energy costs, and of course, that enables you to have very, very much lower emissions. Well, we’ve got to do that, we’re going to do that. And builders’ merchants will be part of the chain for the changes that will take place.”
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New housing is one thing, but Lord Deben went on the point out that the vast majority of the problem lies with the existing housing stock, which will require a great deal of retrofit work to bring up to standard. “Builders merchants have a very real role play in helping people to make the right decisions and the products which they have. You
really do have a key role in the communication strategy. It’s very difficult for individual builders, for homeowners, for people that are trying to do things right, to get through the plethora of information that comes around, and you have a key role here. It seems to me to be a key commercial role as well. Because if you get it right, you become the fount of knowledge, and you’re able to sell more of your products. “I’m a great believer that sustainability is about profitability. Because if you aren’t profitable, you won’t be here in two years’ time. I am totally committed to the fact that these two things are closely bound together. And the second thing that seems to me that the industry can do is really itself to inform itself, because we can’t pass on to our customers unless we ourselves know which are the best choices, what the problems are with some equipment and materials.” “It’s not just a question of making sure that we reduce our emissions. It’s also a question of making sure that we become much more resilient. And that means recycling and reusing. It means using fewer resources, because with an ever-growing population, those resources are running low. Your industry is at the centre of being able to help with that. Take taps as a simple example. I hope that a builder’s merchant would naturally say to customers when they asked about taps, where you really ought to have a mixer tap. And there are some very good ones. You shouldn’t have two taps, because that really does use a lot more water.”
Starting now, the industry should be looking for the most economical systems and discouraging the least economical systems, Lord Deben said. “One of the things I really dislike about government is that it isn’t, willing very often, to bring everybody in
to the whole issue. Government can’t do this on its own. It’s got to work with local government, and it’s got to work with business. Working with business is the crucial thing here, because you are the contact with the individuals, you are there to be able to get people to make very small changes in habits, which could end up in very big results.
“We’re going to have to use a lot more wood in the construction industry. We’re going to have to plant a lot more trees. But the only way that you lock up the carbon roots of trees sequestrate is if you use it in a way which ties it down. And of course, construction is going to be one of the most important places for that to take place. And you’re going to be the missionaries, the ones that explain how wood can be used once or insist that the wood that is used comes from sustainable sources. And above all, that the wood that is used is not a fire hazard. Well- treated wood is safe, indeed safer than many of the alternatives. So, it’s all part of this great change we’re all going to make together. This is a future; which we know we have to have. We are very fortunate as very, very rarely do we know much about the future. But, climate change, tells us a route down which we have to go. “I’m a businessman. And the thing therefore that I want to say to fellow businessmen is, this is not an add-on extra. This is not something which you do because you think it’s a good thing to do. It’s not something that you do out of the goodness of your heart. This is something that you do in order to be profitable. This is something that you do in order to safeguard your business in the future. This is something that you do because if you don’t do it, then others will, and you will find yourself losing out. This is part of profitability. And we should think about it like that.” BMJ
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net October 2020
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