DEPARTMENT FOR
BUSINESS, ENTERPRISE AND REGULATORY REFORM News Release (2008/109)
issued by The Government News Network on 11 June 2008
New targets to
improve the productivity, efficiency and sustainability of the
UK's construction sector were unveiled by the Government and
industry today.
Business Minister Shriti Vadera launched the joint
industry-Government Strategy for Sustainable Construction which
sets out challenging but achievable targets to be delivered by
industry. These include commitments to:
* Recruit 230,000 additional trained construction workers by 2010
* Cut the number of work-related deaths by 10 per cent year on year
* Supply an extra 13,500 apprenticeship placements by 2010
* Achieve a 50 per cent reduction in the amount of construction,
demolition and excavation waste to landfill
* Ensure 25 per cent of materials used in construction projects
are responsibly sourced by 2012
* Ensure all construction projects over £1 million have
biodiversity surveys carried out and instigate the necessary
actions by 2012
Shriti Vadera said:
"Our aim is to become a world leader in sustainable
construction. An efficient construction sector is essential for
the investment in infrastructure and buildings that underpin our competitiveness.
"With the current pressures such as the cost of fuel
presenting an extra challenge for the industry, it is even more
important that we encourage the sector to perform as efficiently
and sustainably as possible. Improvements in these areas will save
costs and increase profitability in the long-term.
"This strategy, which has uniquely been developed jointly by
Government and business, will provide greater certainty over what
is expected from the sector in future, from training and
developing skills to tackling the challenges of climate change."
Buildings are responsible for almost half of the country's
carbon emissions, produce around a third of landfill waste and
account for a quarter of all raw materials used in the economy. It
is therefore important that industry changes the way it designs
and builds to reduce its environmental impact, and to enable the
UK to meet its carbon reduction commitments. The Strategic Forum
for Construction is today also publishing its 'Construction
Commitments' to promote best practice across the industry,
along with its latest four-year targets to ensure their delivery.
These commitments support the Strategy for Sustainable Construction.
As part of this industry initiative, key government departments
have today also signed up to the 'Construction
Commitments', which include best practice on procurement such
as collaborative working across the supply chain and whole life costing.
Strategic Forum for Construction Chairman, Mike Davies said:
"I have been really encouraged by the way that industry and
Government have worked together to develop this Strategy. It
establishes a comprehensive agenda with clear outcomes that will
help create the more sustainable built environment that we all
want to see developed.
"The Construction Commitments which the Strategic Forum is
also launching today set the framework within which we want to see
the industry and its clients - including government - work in
order to meet the targets that have been set. The Government has
taken a lead with a number of key departments already announcing
that they will adopt the Commitments, and I want to see every
company in the industry demonstrate their support for this agenda
by putting their name to the Commitments."
Notes to Editors:
1. The UK's construction industry is significant. It employs
some three million workers, accounts for 8% of GDP, while its
output is worth around £100 billion a year.
2. A full copy of the Strategy for Sustainable Construction can
be found at http://www.tinyurl.com/yua68g
3. The Strategic Forum for Construction comprises of six members:
Construction Industry Council, Construction Clients Group,
Construction Confederation, the Construction Products Association,
NSCC/SEC Group and the TUC. Key themes for the Forum's work
are sustainability, integration and people issues including health
and safety.
4. The Strategic Forum's Vision is for the UK construction
industry to realise maximum value for all clients, end users and
stakeholders and exceed their expectations through the consistent
delivery of world-class products.
5. The Strategic Forum's Construction Commitments and
targets in support of these can be found on the Strategic Forum
website at http://www.strategicforum.org.uk.
6. The public sector bodies who have today signed up to the
Construction Commitments are members of the Public Sector
Construction Clients Forum. They include the Highways Agency,
Department of Health, Department for Children, Schools and
Families, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory
Reform, Department for Work and Pensions, the Office of Government
Commerce, Ministry of Defence - Defence Estates, The Housing
Corporation, Commission for Architecture and the Built
Environment, the Local Government Task Force and, along with all
the RDAs, the South West Regional Development Agency. In addition,
Wates and Land Securities, who sit on PSCCF as representatives
from industry and private sector clients, have signed up along
with 'Constructing Excellence in the Built Environment'.
7. The Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
helps UK business succeed in an increasingly competitive world. It
promotes business growth and a strong enterprise economy, leads
the better regulation agenda and champions free and fair markets.
It is the shareholder in a number of Government-owned assets and
it works to secure, clean and competitively priced energy supplies.