The built environment, like many sectors, is a cyclical beast. During a recession, talk of driving sustainability goals are tempered somewhat by the need to, well, survive! And then the merry-go-round continues. Clearly this is a huge and critical subject matter.

It was sad to hear about the results from the UK Stakeholders for Sustainable Development report yesterday. Set up to tackle the UN's Sustainable development goals, the body's "Measuring up" report highlights that the UK is some 76% off targets.

As a person who gets to see building product manufacturing sites a lot, as disappointing is the report indicating that innovation (along with other factors) does not even hit a "good" standard. I can think of numerous offsite, volumetric sites I have been around that offer HUGE reductions in CO2 emissions, both from a build, transportation and long term thermal properties perspective. And as for more conventional material suppliers, again, I have witnessed first-hand the amount of effort manufacturers are going to (examples being uPVC extrusion and architectural glass) in making their products more green, more attractive to the given project and, thus, more cost efficient to the contractor.

Think I need to interview a senior supply chain person within a large tier one to get their perspective on it.   Time for some sleuthing!