A long green road

Sustainable living is a phrase we’re hearing all the time, but what does it mean for the property sector?

- Ellie Fells

As we become increasingly aware of the need to look after our planet and cut down greenhouse gas emissions, sustainability has become a buzz word in almost every walk of life. In the most basic sense, it means living in a way that avoids depleting the resources available to future generations, which in property translates to tangible steps such as using eco-friendly building materials, turning to renewable energy sources and reducing water consumption. It also takes into account the mental and physical wellbeing of residents through facilities including communal spaces and amenities.

But how much is actually being done in the industry to become more sustainable?

In 2006, the government made the ambitious pledge to make all newly built homes carbon neutral by 2016 – a promise dropped in 2015. However, the UK is committed to reducing net emissions of greenhouse gases by 100% relative to 1990 levels by 2050, so as part of this a number of guidelines and regulations have been introduced for the construction and property industry. Among these are energy performance certificates and minimum energy efficiency standards, as well as the use of the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) and initiatives such as the Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive. In the past couple of decades, we’ve also seen a number of specially designed eco-friendly developments springing up around the country, with the London Borough of Sutton’s BedZED leading the way in 2002. This is considered to be the UK’s first large-scale ecocommunity, built using reclaimed materials and with an on-site water treatment plant, woodchip fuelled heat and power plant, and sky gardens for almost every flat.