Building three million new homes and turning the UK into a zero-carbon economy is a contradiction, said tax and advisory firm Blick Rothenberg,
Alex Altmann, a partner at the firm, was responding to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s pledge to ‘build, build, build’ on Tuesday.
He said: “Reforming the planning system and investing in house building are welcome and long-overdue initiatives, but they must be accompanied by a green revolution in the UK’s construction industry.
“The property sector is one of the biggest carbon emitters in the UK. If we are going to accelerate house building on an industrial scale and want to significantly reduce carbon emissions at the same time, we need to replace carbon-heavy building materials, like steel and concrete, with greener and sustainable alternatives.
“UK housebuilders need to understand and embrace the full range of modern methods of construction, including investment in offsite manufacturing and the use of sustainable materials.”
He went on to say that the construction sectors in Germany, Austria and North America have led the green revolution for many years by using more sustainable materials, like cross-laminated timber or glulam wood products, which act as carbon-sinks.
Altmann added: “The UK has a successful global design and engineering industry. But if we continue to ignore the global trend to more green and sustainable construction, we will damage our design industry and will struggle to attract the new talents, who will design and build green homes elsewhere in the world.
“The government must now show it is serious about a green revolution and support a transformation of the UK’s construction industry to use more modern, sustainable and productive construction methods.”
Source: Property Wire
