Green building plans require focus on people

Planning, 30 May 2008

Global objectives to reduce greenhouse gases are well understood. In the UK the implications are filtering through the planning and building control systems through planning policy statements, building regulations and the code for sustainable homes. Collectively, these set a range of imperatives and timetables to achieve environmental performance standards by set dates.

Delivering against these policy objectives, most notably to achieve zero carbon by 2016, is recognised as immensely challenging. But consumer awareness is on the rise and business is responding with low-carbon technology investment and product development suitable for individual homes and large sites.

At the same time, the debate about the definition of zero carbon rolls on with the latest contribution from the UK Green Building Council. This is another important step in understanding how to respond to the challenges of carbon reduction, notably in response to the growth agenda and the potential for community-scale solutions.

The council's report highlights industry approaches to delivering zero carbon developments. It recognises a number of key trends, such as the tendency for developers to focus on larger developments due to the steep decline in costs as schemes grow in size. Where permitted, these sites can accommodate large-scale wind turbines and bio-energy combined heat and power.

The issue of scale is one of which the Advisory Team for Large Applications (ATLAS) is certainly aware, and we are beginning to see carbon reduction mechanisms in projects. Meeting the government's growth agenda will involve building many large-scale projects, including eco-towns and major urban extensions. Considerable attention will be centred upon achieving carbon reduction in a holistic sense and policy objectives will be tested.

Individual buildings are a clear factor in terms of carbon emissions, but they must be considered in the context of wider patterns of behaviour relating to carbon consumption. Personal lifestyle choices surrounding food consumption and the means by which people travel to work, leisure facilities, shops and holiday destinations must all be considered. Collectively, these factors outweigh the impacts of buildings by themselves.

Across all these areas, the planning community can influence personal behaviour. It can contribute enormously to achieving a low-carbon world by promoting a mix of land uses that encourage linked trips, increasing density around centres of activity, making local places attractive for recreation, integrating recycling facilities and promoting community farms.

The focus on building performance to achieve low carbon is understandable, but the broader role of spatial planning in shaping low carbon lifestyles will be crucially important. Planners can do a great deal to steer individuals towards the best environmental choices to counteract global warming.

Paul Evans is an environmental sustainability specialist at ATLAS, which is funded by the DCLG as part of the Planning Advisory Service and hosted by English Partnerships. For more information, please visit www.atlasplanning.com