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Construction lobbies for whole life carbon assessment

14 Dec 21 A group of construction companies have teamed up to press the government to focus more on carbon than cost when procuring construction projects.

They want whole life carbon assessments to be made a statutory requirement for the delivery of new-build and refurbishment projects in the public sector, with decisions based on the lifecycle carbon of the building or infrastructure project, not cost.

The letter, to construction minister Lee Rowley in the business & enterprise department, was coordinated by Scape, the public sector procurement agency and signed by contractors and consultants on its framework agreements. These include Arcadis, Ashe, Fairhurst, Faithful & Gould, GF Tomlinson, Jeakins Weir, Sisk, Lindum, Mace, McLaughlin & Harvey, Morgan Sindall, Perfect Circle, Seddon, Sweco and Willmott Dixon.

The letter says that project teams basing decisions on cost alone are inhibiting low carbon construction. Data gathered by Scape suggest that the average payback period from the operational savings created by sustainable building design is as little as six years, with only a marginal increase in capital cost.

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Scape chief executive Mark Robinson said: “Tackling carbon intensity across the public estate has become mission critical. As a leading voice for the public sector and in collaboration with our construction and consultancy partners, we have a duty to forge an industry-led response to tackle the environmental challenges we currently face. The Construction Playbook represents the first building block to achieving a low-carbon future and we want to work with the minister to help further its aims and ambitions by setting new statutory obligations within UK procurement legislation.

“Achieving this doesn’t mean reinventing the wheel – a lot of the immediate answers are hiding in plain sight. We must work together as an industry to rethink our traditional approaches and ensure that net zero carbon is considered an integral part of our decision-making process.

“The government plays a huge role in delivering this change and by working together to share best practices, we firmly believe that we can deliver on the commitment to achieve net zero carbon by 2050.”

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