Building conference warned on carbon emissions

Carbon emissions must be cut by a third by 2020 as part of the biggest shake-up facing the North's building industry in 30 years, a conference will be told tomorrow.

The head of Belfast City Council’s Building Control Trevor Martin said: “This is a massive overhaul of existing legislation and there is a lot of new information for construction professionals to digest and put into practise.”

The British government’s latest timetable demands ambitious targets of having a 30% reduction in carbon emissions by 2020 and builders and architects are being encouraged to take the ’green’ route.

The focus is now on conservation of fuel and power when it comes to planning and constructing everything from residential housing and apartments to office blocks, libraries and leisure centres.

“The aim of this conference is to assist our customers with how they are going to implement these changes and explain in more detail exactly what is required of them by law and building control.”

The Federation of Construction Employers, which represents more than 1000 firms in the North, said they wanted to ensure the application of the regulations is fair and consistent to all businesses.

Spokesman, Mark Brown said: “The Federation understands the need to reduce the amount of carbon produced in the building industry and we are promoting sustainable building patterns and we encourage people to build in a sustainable way.

“The building industry is responsible for so it is a good way of reducing carbon which is why the building industry has been targeted. We have been holding seminars for our members on these regulations over the last two years and our priority is ensuring a level playing field and that policing of the building industry will be fair and consistent across the board.”

Friends of the Earth said they were calling for a planning policy statement on climate change and for the construction industry to aim high, beyond the British government’s targets.

Campaigner Declan Allison said: “The package of measures announced by Government last month to tackle climate change through the planning system represents a huge step forward. We now need to see a similar commitment from Planning Service. A planning policy statement on climate change to cement these new ideas into Northern Ireland law should be drawn up.

“We have limited time to make the cuts in carbon dioxide emissions which are needed. I’d urge the delegates at this conference to begin constructing carbon neutral homes now, and not wait for Government’s 10-year deadline.”

The Northern Ireland Environment Link hailed the proposed regulations as a positive step towards making new buildings more energy efficient and called for incentives to be made available for low carbon buildings.

Policy officer Seamus og Gallagher said: “Housing alone consumes nearly 50% of all the energy we use in Northern Ireland. The revised building regulations are a positive step towards making new buildings more energy efficient and future revisions relating to microgeneration could further reduce the carbon footprint of new builds.

“Also, new homes represent a tiny percentage of our housing stock; therefore, more must be done to address the majority of buildings.”