Sustainability

One of the greatest modern challenges for housing developers is the sustainable management of surface water runoff, with more than 3.2 million properties at risk of flooding in England1.

The social and economic costs of flooding are high, and the Association of British Insurers believes that annual losses could reach £1.4 billion by 2040 – much of which is attributed to urban flooding. The surface water management action plan, standardised by Local Government, outlines key principles for residential designers and developers to comply with, to ensure sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) are
in place.

Daniel Lintell, Sustainability Manager at Triton Showers, discusses why energy efficient electric showers are perfectly placed to make a difference when it comes to sustainability, and explains what Triton is doing to lead the market and help housing providers move towards a more environmentally friendly future.

71 per cent of UK adults think we’re in a large ‘climate emergency’ but serious divides emerge when it comes to levels of personal responsibility for tackling it.
•    71 per cent of UK adults think we’re in a large climate emergency.
•    37 per cent of UK adults feel ‘powerless’; 32 per cent ‘frustrated’; 29 per cent ‘anxious’ about climate change.
•    68 per cent of UK adults think that global action to tackle climate change needs to begin immediately but they are divided over how much personal responsibility they have in helping to tackle climate change:
     - 43 per cent say they have a large personal responsibility.
     - 46 per cent feel they have little or no personal responsibility. Of these individuals, 30 per cent said there are too many conflicting opinions about climate change, 26 per cent said they can’t afford to make any changes, and 16 per cent said they don’t know where to start.
•    In the next five years, 41 per cent of UK adults said they would be willing to reduce how often they eat meat and animal products on a weekly basis to help lower their carbon footprint.

With net zero ambitions set across the UK, and the Future Homes Standard calling for all new homes built from 2025 to deliver a 75-80% reduction in carbon emissions, integrated photovoltaics (PV) systems are seen as part of the solution.
To aid the specification market as it seeks to design in renewable energy solutions needed for the homes of tomorrow, Marley has launched a new solar panel providing superior aesthetic appeal and improved power output.
The new enhanced Marley SolarTile® – delivers a lean, low-profile aesthetic for both new build and retrofit projects and offers simple and quick roof integration.

Environmental issues have never been as ingrained into the national and global consciousness as they are right now, and Scotland is leading the way in instigating and inspiring real change in how we tackle climate change.
Scotland hosts the United Nation’s 26th climate change conference from 31st October to the 12th November 2021, with world leaders coming together to discuss the planet’s ecological predicament.

With pressure on the construction industry to utilise more sustainable building methods and product choices, specifying a PVC-U solution is increasingly being
seen as a way to further drive the green agenda.

Eurocell is supporting sustainability options for housebuilding and commercial projects through its market-leading PVC-U recycling and manufacturing processes that are substantially reducing the amount of plastic waste heading for landfill and helping to tackle the problem of carbon reduction. The company offers an extensive range of high performing PVC-U window and door solutions that not only look good,
but also help organisations satisfy their sustainability ambitions.

What do the pioneering ReFLEX Orkney project, the unique ‘Solopower’ solution, and the Government’s Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Demonstrator all have in common? They are either led by or partnering with one innovative energy services company, SMS plc, which is on a mission to support housing organisations with long-term sustainability and fuel poverty targets.
The intelligent application of distributed green energy technologies – in tandem with new financing solutions that aim to make mass rollout across UK homes realistically deliverable and widely affordable – has potential not only to help Britain fully decarbonise, but also dramatically reduce rates of fuel poverty in the process.