Green Deal Assessment & Accreditation and role of the Professional Bodies

Alan Crane CBE, President, Chartered Institute of Building

The Chartered Institute of Building: Our Public Benefit Mission

The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) has around 47,000 members and is the professional home of construction management, representing a wide range of construction professionals from the UK and across the world.

The Carbon Challenge How serious are we?

Reducing carbon is a matter of legal obligation (Climate Change Act 2008) BUT Few businesses have an accurate understanding of the sheer scale of the undertaking ahead; and there is a level of disbelief about whether or when the difficult decisions that will lead to the necessary changes in customer behaviour will be made. (Paul Morrell, UK Government Construction Adviser) It is an opportunity for the construction industry to demonstrate leadership, work collaboratively and take the initiative. UK has the tools, the technology, the resources and the knowledge and should stand ready to play our part in the carbon reduction challenge. It is a significant business opportunity for companies that can innovate and adapt.

The Carbon Challenge Are we really serious?

Are Government taking the tough decisions?
The Carbon Plan: Prime Minister pledged in March 2011 to roll out Display Energy Certificates, which rate a buildings actual energy use and carbon emissions, to the private sector by the end of 2012. The Chancellor blocked these plans despite mass business lobbying in their favour, including from the private sector!

The Carbon Challenge Serious, really serious?

Government plans for zero carbon homes in 2016 were watered down in the Budget earlier this year Now a zero carbon home will no longer be zero carbon!

The current debacle of Feed-in Tariffs and uncertainty in the market cutting the rate too far, too fast.

Green Deal How serious?

Where are the skills for retrofitting and refurbishment? 80% of the buildings that will be used in 2050 are already built this is a far larger market than new build and therefore requires the appropriate number of skilled personnel. There is no point in Government or industry talking about delivering solutions on sustainability without ensuring that this and the next generation have the skills they need to deliver a result. Up-to-date industry practice needs to flow from the industry through education to students, apprentices, employees, employers, and teachers. We need to provide accessible, flexible training programmes for those already in the workplace. This needs formal recognition or accreditation.

Green Deal What are the issues?

Where is the consumer confidence going to come from?

The Green Deal encompasses banks, energy companies, and builders in peoples homes hardly a recipe for confidence! So where is this trust going to come from?

Large retailers with a strong brand such as Marks & Spencer and B&Q are vital to build trust and market the Green Deal.
The consumer needs to be empowered and the industry needs to ensure its own reputation is not sullied especially at a time when construction is flagging. We have to ensure the cowboy image the public has of construction does not apply to the Green Deal.

Green Deal What can we do?

Using enhanced Building Regulations could be the most economically efficient means to encourage Green Deal take-up and, combined with accreditation, ensures work is carried out to best practice standards.
Assessors a Green Deal assessment will be based on energy savings, future energy costs, capital costs of measures, cost of capital, repayment schedules etc. all of which are complex. So we need assessments to be consistent and accurate - it is critical to ensure that there are guidelines, methodologies and common assumptions that can be applied.

Green Deal the importance of getting it right

We clearly want to avoid the Australian example:

A scheme not dissimilar to the Green Deal established there in 2009 saw companies and individuals take advantage, as they are entitled to do, of an unaccredited scheme to install loft insulation and other energy efficiency measures in dwellings. Four tradesmen died as a result of working on the scheme, two when they installed foil-backed insulation onto live wiring. In addition, there were nearly 90 house fires resulting from poorly installed insulation. The scheme was scrapped one year later, at great cost, and the companies who WERE professionally trained and in place to provide these measures were the ones who missed out on work, leading to large-scale job losses.

 Effective accreditation - of companies, assessors, professionals, tradesmen and products - is crucial. And not just for the consumer!

Green Deal skills the role of Professional Bodies

CIOB is already taking action and providing the industry with guidance to help achieve carbon reduction targets through Carbon Action 2050. We are ensuring that industry engagement is key to future accreditation. We are explaining to Government of the important role the industry has in achieving carbon targets, and of the strategic value of construction management.

CIOB Carbon Action 2050 is very serious!

Carbon Action 2050 aims to help the industry to drive the change required to meet regulatory targets.

Carbon Action 2050 does not intend to re-invent the wheel, or replicate the work of previous initiatives; but to make a difference on the ground, now, by changing industry practices and behaviour. We are revising our Education Framework to include modules dedicated to sustainability, and low carbon in particular, at all levels: from apprenticeships through to under- and post-graduate degree courses. This ensures the development of skills and knowledge to meet carbon targets. We are talking to the industry AND education sector to ensure these skills are relevant now and in the future.

CIOB Carbon Action 2050 is very serious!

We know that our members and the wider industry will respond to the challenges that lie ahead, and that the practical information contained within this action plan will help them do just that. Carbon Action 2050, just like the low carbon agenda, will not remain static; it is an evolving and constantly-reviewed resource that provides guidance to achieving regulatory targets. Importantly, the CIOB wants to demonstrate our own commitment and progress towards reducing carbon emissions from our business operations and to ensure sustainability is at the centre of everything we do.

CIOB Carbon Action 2050 so how does it work?

An action plan made up of 50 simple actions across new build, retrofit, refurbishment , leadership, facilities management, and many more facets of the built environment that industry, government , professional bodies etc. can do NOW. Simple and measurable actions, but huge amounts of information can be found from digging deeper into the site there are research papers, case studies, industry reports, government legislation and links to other relevant websites. We are happy to highlight accreditation issues as they develop.