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Past seminars'Reviewing standards for sustainable construction'15 March 2005 Venue: The Institute of Mechanical Engineers, 1 Birdcage Walk, London Context Sustainable construction and sustainable communities have become integral to ODPM planning and development policies. Sustainable building and construction must become standardised in order to provide market certainty. There are a plethora of initiatives, voluntary and mandatory, aimed at encouraging and enforcing more sustainable construction. The Sustainable Buildings Taskgroup recommends a unified Code of Sustainable Building (CSB), which will bring together best practice in a measurable way and over time will raise standards. It recommends that the CSB should be based on the Building Research Establishment (BRE) current Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) and EcoHomes systems. However, these will need adaptation, in particular, to ensure progress in the areas prioritized by Government, notably energy and water efficiency and waste minimization. The Building Regulations Advisory Committee (BRAC) stated that Building Regulations could make significant improvements to the sustainability of buildings. The Sustainable and Secure Buildings Bill is designed to bring sustainability within the Building Regulations. Following the passage of the Bill the consequent regulations should be developed urgently. In this way energy and water use in new and refurbished buildings should be improved significantly as will the resource efficiency of waste management. The new regulations will underpin the standards in the CSB. However, much still needs to be done to define the remit of the Bill. In addition revised building regulations must be well integrated with other policy developments in relation to the Governments Sustainable Communities strategy and the revision of Regional Planning Guidance (RPG) 14. The planning system has an important part to play. The current draft PPS1 Creating Sustainable Communities, which incorporates sustainable development principles in the planning system, is a welcome initiative. However, there is still much to do to understand exactly how PPS1 will be interpreted into development and construction design standards. Guidance is needed for local planning authorities on the application of these principles. Proposal It is suggested that SERA and the BSI organise a seminar to review the Government’s progress towards the sustainability of buildings. Sir John Harman, Co –Chair of the Sustainable Buildings Taskgroup has confirmed his attendance. The Seminar will provide an opportunity to discuss issues surrounding sustainable construction standards and resource efficiency, with particular reference to energy efficiency, and the Government’s policies to address these. A series of questions will set the framework for debate. SERA and the BSI will also publish a briefing to review the current regulation initiatives aimed at ensuring sustainable construction standards. The briefing and key recommendations resulting from the seminar will be used to inform the forthcoming Code for Sustainable Buildings due for publication later this year. The recommendations from this seminar will also help in identifying the gaps in the current building standards and the need to fill them in order to take forward Governments ‘Sustainable Communities’ initiative. Event Objectives SERA and the BSI propose to review construction standards in relation to resource efficiency. In particular focusing on:
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