Cutting Costs and Carbon
Kicking off a new series of seminars and knowledge sharing, Green Vision, the sustainable networking organisation for the property and construction sector, is hosting its first event of the year this week, with ‘Green Building Drivers 2012’, on Thursday 2^nd February at Squire Sanders in Leeds.

Part of the 2012 programme of ‘Cutting Costs and Carbon’ this event, to be held at Squire Sanders office on Park Lane from 5.30pm – 7pm, will respond to issues raised in Green Vision’s first tweet chat of the year. This saw representatives from both local and international organisations uncover many questions and uncertainty about the logistics of sustainable building and asset management for 2012, in line with government objectives. It explored Green Deal, potential threats to SMEs, and highlighted that many in the industry remain nervous, fearing the ‘real cost of carbon reduction’, whilst feeling financial strains of the recession.

Bringing in a speaker who advises ministers on meeting the UK’s climate targets, the Green Vision team is keen to set the scene nationally informing delegates of the sector’s challenges as whole, before exploring what can be done locally, within the Yorkshire region. The intention is to provide support for delegates, and to help make 2012 a year where sustainable practices become better understood and more elevated on the corporate agenda.

The programme is as follows:-

18.00 Delivering Carbon Budgets: What will it mean for consumers and fuel poverty, by independent government advisor Dr Ute Collier, Head of Buildings, Committee for Climate Change

18.15 New 2012 Legislation & Policy for carbon reduction and energy use in building, to inform delegates of key legalities coming up this year, by Anita Lloyd, Squire Sanders

18.30 The Whole-Life Measurement of Carbon & Taxation, looking at how we need to tackle carbon reduction in the commercial sector, by Prof Angus McIntosh, who brings his 10 years experience at King Sturge (he was former head of research at King Sturge, now working for Real Estate Forecasting Ltd)

18.45 Intervening to reduce domestic carbon emissions, Dr Emma Hinton, Research Associate, Kings College London, presents findings on the human aspect of occupant behaviour

The session will then conclude with a Q&A session to the panel, followed by open networking For more information on the speakers or to book tickets please visit http://www.green-vision.org.uk/

Supported by the Construction Sector Network; global legal firm Squire Sanders; social media and sustainability consultancy Fairsnape; Leeds College of Building and EPSRC (research project on carbon comfort and controls), Green Vision is committed to sharing knowledge, experience and best practice on Low Carbon Buildings and Property within the Yorkshire and Humber region.

Targeted at property and construction professionals from across the region, as well as engaging with the wider business community on sustainable development, Green Vision is run by Leeds Metropolitan’s Centre for Knowledge Exchange and the Construction Sector Network. It brings together academics with business, to address challenges and opportunities presented by sustainable building practices.

With the recent expansion of the network this year there are now additional opportunities available for companies interested in supporting Green Vision as a corporate sponsor. Any interested parties should contact C.Walker@leedsmet.ac.uk.

Further spring Gvis2012, events are also planned: 1^st March sees another evening seminar, on Carbon Reduction Strategies, led by Richard Francis, Head of Sustainability, at worldwide construction consultancy, Gardiner and Theobald. In addition, Vassos Chrysostomou co-founder at ConstructCO2, will explore the social, environmental as well as economic responsibilities that construction contractors have towards carbon reduction.

This series will conclude on 29^th March at Old Broadcasting House with a half day conference, where industry leading keynote speakers and expert roundtable discussions will consider topics such as behaviour change, energy monitoring systems and guidance for landlords, set within the wider debate of how to cut costs and carbon. A feature of the event will be a live international presentation from ‘the world’s greenest building’ in Vancouver and through social media partner be2camp the conference will be web enabled to allow real global input and sharing.

Claire Walker Project Manager for Green Vision, said: “Following the success of the GVis2011 Series, Green Vision has attracted considerable interest as a leading Knowledge Exchange network, supporting and informing regional markets in best practice for sustainable building. We are excited about our forthcoming series as it addresses very real issues and concerns, real opportunities and threats, and will provoke debate and discussion around what will be a big year of change with respect to low carbon policies. It’s important to better understand, as a sector, how we can work towards a low carbon future and these event are a great catalyst for this.”

Attendees to GVis2012 series will connect with leading sustainability thinkers from the UK and overseas, share regional, national and international views on the future of energy in buildings and identify opportunities for partnerships, both within the sector, as well as on a wider scale.

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Notes to Editors:

• Images are available:
• Claire Walker is available for further comment
• Dr. Ute Collier is Team Leader for Buildings and Industry at the Committee on Climate Change, the independent body advising the UK Government on setting and meeting carbon budgets and targets. She also leads the Committee’s forthcoming (April 2012) advice on the role of local authorities in delivering carbon budgets, as well as its work for the devolved administrations. Prior to joining the Committee in April 2009, Ute was based at the Greater London Authority as manager of the London Energy Partnership. Previously, she held a number of different roles in the public sector, NGOs and academia.

• Dr. Emma Hinton is a research associate working on an EPSRC-E.On strategic partnership consortium project called ‘Carbon, Control and Comfort: User-centred control systems for comfort, carbon savings and energy management’, with colleagues from eight other universities.  As a social researcher, her role in this project is to understand the ways in which householders use energy and practice comfort in the home, and conditions under which these practices might change.  Emma holds a PhD in Geography (King’s College London), an MSc in Natural Resource Management (Cranfield University) and a BSc (hons) in Environmental Biology (University of Nottingham).  Outside academia, she has worked in a number of environment-focused roles in the third sector and the civil service.

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