The UK Green Building Council chief executive Julie Hirigoyen stated that “Housebuilders are having the rug pulled from under them on something they have invested a lot of money, time and effort into. It makes the UK in some ways un-investable.

Although not mentioned in the report, it is highly likely that the Zero Cabron plans for non domestic buildings due in 2019 will be scrapped.

Kate Henderson , chief executive of the Town and Country Planning Association, also expressed her great disappointment at the axing of “such a world leading initiative for sustainable development”.

JB comments. Why….? Why…? Why……? Just at the point that the building industry has started to see the benefits of truly sustainable development and broadly worked out how to deliver zero carbon buildings without loosing viability, the governement capitulates to lobbying.

Do they believe  it would stifle new development with additional costs and viability issues accross the board? We may never know.

As party to the vast amount of planning that has taken place to accomodate the new Zero Carbon world, it is saddening and frustrating to witness this conservative government continuing on from their work in the last coalition by reducing UK’s sustainable buildings plans to rubble! 

This is a giant retrograde step and ensures the UK falls even further behind European countries in the development of low energy, low carbon buildings and commisioning of more renewable energy sources. What next? There are precious few, if any more building related sustainability policies or standards to axe.