Construction Action Group

 

The construction industry is vital to the UK economy; it plays a major role in improving the quality of the built environment, but it also impacts on the wider environment in a number of ways.
The construction business in the UK is responsible for nearly a third of all industry-related pollution incidents. In fact, construction and demolition waste alone represents 19% of total UK waste. Large numbers of buildings are environmentally inefficient and do not make best use of limited resources such as energy and water. The energy used in constructing, occupying and operating buildings represents approximately 50% of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK.
Although sustainable construction techniques have been successfully used to deliver some high-profile projects, take up of sustainability principles within the construction sector varies significantly, and the environmental efficiency of buildings in the UK remains lower than in many other European countries.
The Construction Action Group has been created to encourage key partners and stakeholders to work together to address climate change and resource use in the City, with a particular focus on:
• Reducing carbon emissions
• Reducing pollution and waste
• Planning processes that take into account the environmental capacity of an area
• Improved environmental efficiency of buildings
• Supporting and enabling the development of the Southampton Low Carbon City 2011-2020 Delivery Plan
The action group aims to bring together a range of key actors and key emitters to develop ways in which they can reduce their own carbon emissions from the use of more efficient and sustainable energy. 

The Construction Action Group recognises the construction industry's vital contribution to the UK economy; it plays a major role in improving the quality of the built environment, but it also impacts on the wider environment in a number of ways.

The construction business in the UK is responsible for nearly a third of all industry-related pollution incidents. In fact, construction and demolition waste alone represents 19% of total UK waste. Large numbers of buildings are environmentally inefficient and do not make best use of limited resources such as energy and water. The energy used in constructing, occupying and operating buildings represents approximately 50% of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK.

Although sustainable construction techniques have been successfully used to deliver some high-profile projects, take up of sustainability principles within the construction sector varies significantly, and the environmental efficiency of buildings in the UK remains lower than in many other European countries.

The Construction Action Group has been created to encourage key partners and stakeholders to work together to address climate change and resource use in the City, with a particular focus on:

 

• Reducing carbon emissions

• Reducing pollution and waste

• Planning processes that take into account the environmental capacity of  an area

• Improved environmental efficiency of buildings

• Supporting and enabling the development of the Southampton Low Carbon City Strategy 2011-2020 and Delivery Plan

 

The Construction Action Group aims to bring together a range of key actors and key emitters to develop ways in which they can reduce their own carbon emissions from the use of more efficient and sustainable energy.