Despite all the recent publicity about climate change and dwindling resources, the UK building industry is still dragging its heels when it comes to sustainable design and construction, according to a recent survey. A shocking 62% of a sample made up mainly of built environment professionals believes that the UK is a laggard when it comes to sustainability – with only 5% optimistically calling it a pioneer.
However, it appears that these professionals do not see the industry itself taking the initiative when it comes to introducing more sustainable practices. A decisive 41% said that they believed the government was currently driving sustainability in the built environment, with only 19% citing owners/clients and 13%, architects. They did not see this changing significantly in the future; 38% thought the government would continue to be the main driver of more environmentally responsible design.
Designed to identify the mood of the industry and current challenges faced, the survey was commissioned by Autodesk, one of the world’s leading providers of building design solutions. It was carried out at Think 07, a new event highlighting, sustainability, regeneration and innovation in the UK construction and property markets.
“It’s very surprising that, in general, the AEC industry still doesn’t see itself taking more of the lead in green issues, driving government guidelines rather than following them,” says Pete Baxter, Autodesk AEC Sales Director, Northern Europe.
“However, this does give forward-looking firms a real opportunity to develop their competitive edge, especially now the technology is available to enable them to do this. For example, Autodesk is continuously expanding the functionality of its AEC solutions to allow users to conduct multiple types of analyses and feed the results back directly to their building model.”