Regeneration
Environmental assessments of buildings only tell half the story
Researchers have called for a more wide-ranging approach to assessing a building’s green credentials. It comes after they studied a low-energy development in Italy and discovered more than half of its environmental impact occurred before it was even occupied.
Rather than just focusing on the operational stage of a building’s life, assessments should be expanded from when the building is in use to include production and transport of materials, construction activities and building maintenance. A wide range of environmental impacts should also be considered, researchers argue, and not just energy use.
Engaging the ‘yet to be mobilised’ in environmental activism
With cuts looming as an existential threat over local authorities, and the ongoing uncertainty of Brexit making life harder for all decision-makers, it might be an odd moment to propose more community involvement programmes. After all, isn’t devolution supposed to be helping with all that?
But there is a reason why the slogan ‘Take Back Control’ resonated with so many UK voters and it’s because people feel they have little say over decisions that affect their lives.
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