Cambridge Forum for the Construction Industry and Carbon Neutral Cambridge will be joint hosts of a conference looking at how the construction industry can play its part in tackling the climate emergency. It will tackle head- on the regulatory, technical and political challenges involved in creating new buildings which emit minimal greenhouse gases during construction and which can operate with net zero emissions.
Lewis Herbert (Leader, Cambridge City Council and Bridget Smith (Leader, South Cambridgeshire District Council) will introduce the event. They will stress that local authorities are keen to work with the construction industry and help it step-up its ambition in order for the council’s goals of carbon neutrality to be met. The main speakers include:
- Joel Gustafsson (Max Fordham)
- Clara Bagenal George (Elementa Consulting)
- Sam Hunter Jones (Client Earth)
- Paul Frainer (Cambridge Shared Planning)
- David Richards (Atelier Ten)
- Linda Thiel (White Arkitekter)
Meredith Bowles, Director of Mole Architects and trustee of the Cambridge Forum for the Construction Industry said: “The built environment is responsible for 45% of the UK carbon emissions, taking into account energy used in the construction, operation and maintenance of buildings. The CFCI recognises the urgent need for the construction industry to do all it can to reduce this. This conference aims to help equip the industry with the facts, and demonstrate that carbon neutral buildings are already a reality, and can become the norm.”
According to Anne Miller, Chair of Carbon Neutral Cambridge: “ Very rapidly, we need to get on track to achieve Net Zero Carbon emissions. As part of this it is critically important that Greater Cambridge’s forthcoming Local Plan requires all new buildings to have very low carbon emissions. This conference aims to help the construction industry, councils and the community work together to decide how to achieve this in a way that benefits us all.”
The Climate Emergency Conference is being held at Robinson College on 24th March 2020. Booking is required and can be made online via the CFCI website (www.cfci.org.uk).