Sustainable construction industry

Sustainable construction industry

A blueprint for modernising the way in which our homes, workplaces, leisure facilities, hospitals, schools and their supporting infrastructure are designed and built was published in April 2000 by the Government.

The new document, "Building a better quality of life – A strategy for more sustainable construction", sets out how the Government wants the construction industry to contribute to sustainable development. The strategy is designed to be a catalyst for change in the way buildings and infrastructure are designed, procured, constructed, maintained and used.

Launching the new strategy as part of National Construction Week,Construction Minister, Beverley Hughes said:

Building a better quality of life is an important document. It supports our sustainable development strategy – A better quality of life –published last May, and forms a central part of this Government's programme. The potential benefits are immense. Construction, supply of materials and services associated with buildings and infrastructure create employment, consume natural resources and energy, generate waste and influence well-being and productivity on a scale which dwarfs most other sectors of the economy.

The Government, the industry itself and its clients are now working together for radical change and improvement in construction performance, as part of the Rethinking Construction agenda. The aim is an industry that focuses on its customers, is competitive and profitable and works in an ethical and environmentally responsible way. This is what our Building a better quality of life strategy is intended to bring about.

We worked closely with the industry and its clients to produce the strategy. Our consultation process clearly showed a real desire for construction to become more socially and environmentally responsible and better regarded. I am very pleased to see that change is already occurring, not just within individual businesses and projects, but among sectors, institutions and at the pan-industry level.

Government is the single largest client of the construction industry. We will lead the way in making Building a better quality of life work. But Government action alone won't make construction more sustainable. I want the industry itself to understand that sustainable construction is about competitiveness,survival, corporate responsibility and enlightened self-interest. Above all,that it makes good business sense.

Building a better quality of life – a strategy for more sustainable construction is available from DETR's Web site www.detr.gov.ukor from DETR Free Literature, PO Box 236, Wetherby, West Yorkshire, LS23 7NB(telephone 08701 226 236). The product code reference is 99CD1065.