Module B1 Study Book - the Graduate School of the Environment

and Resources Action Programme (WRAP).
Knowledge within the profession has to be increased through continuing
professional development and it is vital that specifies and designers understand
all the issues around sustainable construction and not just the compulsion
to comply with regulations. As with all systems of compulsion there is a
danger that as planning and building regulations tighten and environmental
management systems (for example ISO14001) are imposed then all we, as
construction professionals, end up achieving is compliance with legislation
and no longer invent and push the boundaries of design and construction.
As Sheridan reports in a comparative study of housing provision in Europe:
It seems likely that sustainability issues are more often addressed by design
guidance rather than regulation or by specialised legislation separate from
building or planning controls
(Sheridan 2001:179)
As academics, experts and professionals within the construction industry
rebuke the Government for 'too little too late' perhaps we should revise the
carrot and stick approach currently used to implement change within the
UK construction industry, and look towards examples from Europe or the
USA where environmental architecture has entered into the mainstream.
It is only when building techniques ensure energy efficiency and design
techniques embed energy efficiency, zero waste and appropriate materials
within the design of buildings that we will be able to stop holding the Bedzed
development (Peabody Trust 2002) up as a recent example of good practice
and look forard to more questions like this from clients:
Lecture: Getting Something Built 1 123