The extent and nature of sustainable building in England: An analysis of progress

Williams, Katie; Lindsay, Morag

Abstract

In England, the government has pursued an agenda for a more sustainable built environment for over a decade. Yet it is difficult to know how much progress has been made. This article presents the findings of research that attempts to quantify and describe the extent of sustainable building in England. It reviews government-produced statistics and reports, data on sustainability accreditations, suppliers' information and existing research. It finds that no precise data exist on the extent of sustainable building, but there is a wealth of qualitative information on buildings and projects. The article describes the main sustainability features found in buildings and development projects in England, and presents a categorisation of eight sustainable building types. The article concludes by noting that the information base available to undertake this review is inadequate, and makes some suggestions about how it could be improved. It then reports that, as a proportion of the total building stock, the number of sustainable buildings is very small and that this is unlikely to change until building regulations and planning policies become more stringent.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Mar 1, 2007
• Journal: Planning Theory and Practice
• Print ISSN: 1464-9357
• Electronic ISSN: 1470-000X
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 8
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 31-49
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14649350601158113
• Keywords: sustainable buildings, planning regulation, England, categories, built environment, data sources
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1030493
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14649350601158113
• Additional Information: Additional Information : Williams wrote this paper (100%) using review material provided by co-author. Derived from EPSRC-funded project (The Contribution of Sustainable new Developments to Sustainable Lifestyles: an evaluation of schemes in the UK). Williams lead investigator within the CityForm Consortium (of which she was Co-investigator), funded under the Sustainable Urban Environments Programme.