The UK's approach to sustainable development in construction

This paper, updated from a speech delivered to the CIB World Congress on 12 June 1998 at Gävle, Sweden, outlines recent and proposed developments by the UK government on its approach to sustainable development in construction. A wide definition of sustainability includes social progress, environmental protection, prudent use of natural resources and economic growth/stable levels of employment A wide array of measures have been or will be implemented: an integrated national transport policy, a national programme of CO2 reductions from new (and possibly existing) buildings, a Social Exclusion Unit, a Welfare to Work programme, demonstration projects of sustainable construction, a new sustainable development strategy, dialogue with the construction industry, waste reduction schemes, landfill and aggregate taxes, improved management of water resources, an emphasis on whole life costs rather than initial capital costs of buildings, the development of sustainability indicators.