The Green Construction Board recently released its ‘One Year On Report’, which outlines the progress made to date in leading the change to a low carbon economy.

Established in October 2011, the Green Construction Board aims to deliver strategic guidance to the sector as well as monitor the progress of the actions in the Low Carbon Construction Action Plan (LCCAP). The recently released report provides an update of the board’s work, whilst detailing plans for the next 12 months.

To date, the Board has completed 84 of 162 actions identified in the LCCAP, and a further 73 are in progress. The on-going work related to the LCCAP has identified that a key issue holding back low carbon construction is the perception that related costs are higher. In response to this, the Board is developing an interactive case study tool which will illustrate how reduced carbon construction can result in lowered expenditure and running costs.

The report also outlines the Board’s detailed and extensive plans for the upcoming year. As the subject area of these plans is vast, it is vital that a clear focus is maintained, and this is provided by the Low Carbon Routemap for the built environment. Set to be finalised by March 2013, the Routemap will detail the key points along the timeline to the 2050 target of reducing UK carbon emissions by 80%.

The development of the emerging Routemap and LCCAP has led to the identification of four areas for priority action:

1. The need for greater focus on infrastructure;

2. The need to properly understand and address the ‘performance gap’ between intended and actual in-use performance of new and existing buildings;

3. The need to effectively brigade and marshal knowledge around the treatment of existing buildings;

4. The need to properly understand the nature of demand for green construction, properly and infrastructure and identify what more might be done to increase it.

For more details on the Green Construction Board’s Routemap or LCCAP progress, view the full ‘One Year On Report’ here.