Category Archives: legislation

construction sustainability strategy not tough enough ?

Whilst the consultant process is closed and BERR deliberate on the comments from industry, Mike Willoughby at Sustainability Blog notes that the M and E sector has joined the chorus of organisations and individuals in calling for more stringent measures within the strategy.

As reported at emonline:

The ECA and HVCA have criticised the government for failing to go further with its draft strategy for sustainable construction. According to the associations, a lack of suitable incentives and enforcement measures means the draft falls short of requirements.

Whilst the strategy needs to be comprehensive and meaningful, its timing (expected later this year) does seem to be behind the cue ball of other strategies, requirements, targets and messages coming out from  other government departments and agencies.

Will the tail be able to wag the dog I wonder?

coming soon … site waste management plans

With under three months to go before SWMP become mandatory on projects over £250,000, I was amazed to read the results of a survey, conducted last year by NetRegs suggesting that the construction industry is sleep walking into the legislation with two thirds of respondents (66%) saying they didn’t know what an SWMP is and 63% were not aware that SWMPs could soon become a legal requirement.

SWMP are also a requirement of the Code for Sustainable Housing as a minimum requirement from Level One upwards.

At, fairsnape we have developed a basic and easy SWMP format that uses the project programme as the basis for addressing waste management thats goes a good way to meeting the legislation requirements … more

For more information Envirowise is running a series of events across the country and has much good advise on their website.

I note from the Envirowise documents that the typical cost of a skip is £1300 (when labour and materials are costed) and some 13% of materials deleivered to sites leave via the skips.  Ouch