] key dates, [
] resources, [
] events and [
] UK-GBC actions.
Campaigns
UK Green Building Council - CAMPAIGNS
Our mission and our whole programme of work is, at its heart, a campaign. We exist to drive radical change in the built environment and work with industry, government and other decision-makers and stakeholders to achieve this.
However, we will also run focussed, time-limited campaigns on specific issues that we wish to highlight; decisions that we believe should be made; or policy that we believe should be adopted - by government, by our members, or by the wider industry.
Over time, we are likely to have a small number of such campaigns running alongside one another - each with defined outcomes and clear, targeted goals.
At EcoBuild 08 we launched our first campaign:
CAMPAIGN FOR REAL DATA
The UK-GBC is concerned with achieving real, lasting and measurable progress. As sustainability, and climate change in particular, has become a mainstream concern over recent years, there has been an understandable rush to provide solutions.
It is of course vital that we strive to find these solutions, including new techniques and technologies in construction and design.
However, we must also build the foundations for long-lasting success. A current hindrance to ensuring our decisions deliver the best outcomes is a lack of readily available, robust and reliable data. This occurs right across the life-cycle of the built environment and the Campaign for Real Data will seek to tackle the problem wherever it occurs - from materials, to water, waste and more.
The problem of poor data is particularly acute in the case of CO2 emissions from existing non-domestic buildings, where current data is extremely inconsistent and incomplete.
It is widely acknowledged that buildings in use will use considerably more energy than the model constructed during the design process suggests. It is therefore vital to add post-construction and post-occupancy data to the design stage data and to build up a comprehensive and powerful knowledge base of information at all three stages.
The logic is that with better data in place, and more accurate design assumptions, we can better ensure that regulatory changes, legislative drivers and the solutions we employ will have real and lasting success in driving down emissions.
The Campaign for Real Data's first priority is to ensure full, fast and smooth roll-out of Energy Performance Certificates and Display Energy Certificates - to all non-domestic buildings - as a basis for making progress.
As part of the Campaign for Real Data we are also issuing a 'data audit'. There are a number of initiatives currently running, or in planning, that are concerned with measurement and reporting mechanisms. This enthusiasm and activity is hugely welcome, but we believe it is our job to ensure that this activity is complementary and that the industry has sufficient guidance.
We therefore want to engage with all those involved in the collection of data on building performance, in order to:
- Make sense of the plethora of activity currently underway in this area
- Encourage greater standardisation
- Campaign for a national database of emissions information, with comparable data, and agreed metrics
