NBS inspires the industry to go green – 11 November 2008

Meeting the targets set out in the Government’s Strategy for Sustainable Construction and complying with legislation is one of the greatest challenges facing construction professionals today. To address this, we recently organised a seminar on Implementing Greener Regulations for Construction.

Held at The Building Centre in London, the seminar was designed to raise the industry’s awareness of new and proposed green legislations and provide delegates with a clear understanding to be able to embrace sustainability and achieve the Government’s targets.

Loic Lopez, Environmental Consultant, Eight Associates, speaking at the NBS seminar

The speakers looked at a range of issues and provided expert guidance and practical solutions relating to green construction.

Loic Lopez, from Eight Associates, gave an inspiring overview of some of the most relevant green legislation changes - such as The Climate Change Bill and the Code for Sustainable Homes - and provided an overview of the challenges facing the industry and how to respond to them.

Martin Townsend, from BRE Global, explained the main changes in the 2008 update of BREEAM including a new two stage certification process, the introduction of minimum standards and a new rating - Outstanding – awarded only to the most cutting-edge green projects.

Jerry Percy, from Gleeds, outlined the key aspects of the Code for Sustainable Homes including the assessment criteria, innovations and profitability techniques through sustainability.

Professor Sandy Halliday, from Gaia Group, looked at the greening of construction contracts and assessed the impact this is likely to have on the construction process, focusing on the approaches rather than clauses.

Delegates left the seminar with much to think about and take back to their colleagues, and continue the debate on emergent points.

“This NBS seminar provided a useful overview of the implications of some of the green legislation which is currently being used and developed in the building industry. As design professionals trying to balance issues of sustainability and economics in our projects we were particularly interested in the debate that arose regarding the role that BREEAM and the Code for Sustainable Homes continue to play in this process.”
George Legg, from Sarah Wigglesworth Architects

“I am glad I had the chance to attend this seminar - it was a very impressive. It provided an overall idea on sustainable design, current legislations and alternative ways of improvement. It was very beneficial to us and choices could be made to achieve more sustainable design at significantly no greater cost in the future.”
Mickey Pinqi Yu, from Scott Wilson – London Structures

Delegates continue discussion on key themes over lunch and networking at the NBS seminar

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NBS offers a range of learning opportunities in addition to conferences and seminars. This includes NBS Learning Channels, a suite of video-based learning services for the architecture, design and construction industry. NBS also offers a comprehensive range of RIBA CPD accredited training courses for NBS software products.

Please call us on 0845 456 9594 for more information.