Construction Industry Will Benefit from Low Carbon Transition, According to Report

Posted under Blog by Ruth

The Low Carbon Construction Innovation and Growth Team (IGT) has recently issued a report that highlights the opportunities that will open to the construction industry as a result of the UK making a transition towards becoming a low carbon economy.

The IGT claim that there are four main areas opening up to the industry, as long as challenges and barriers to the opportunities are lifted effectively.

The government is currently promoting schemes that involve retrofitting of properties through energy efficient technology such as double glazing, that can cut down on heat lost through windows by half. On top of this, the government is also pushing renewable energy technology, such as solar panels, to cut down on emissions by 80 percent by 2050.

The opportunities for the construction industry, according to the IGT, are a ‘huge programme of work’ which could last for around 40 years. There is also the option to reform the way the industry works, to increase opportunities to export, and to get future generations more interested in working in the industry ‘with a noble cause’.

Paul Morrell, Chief construction advisor, said that ‘no one should underestimate the sheer scale of the opportunity the transition to a low carbon economy will offer the construction industry’. He added that it is one of the biggest changes that the industry has seen since the Victorian period.

This interim report from the IGT comes after London was recently declared to be a Low Carbon Economic Area. This will help to encourage growth in the construction sector as a way of meeting stricter requirements for energy efficient properties.