by Clair Mooney | 12 Jul, 2022 | Sustainability
FIS has thrown its support behind the upcoming Green Home Festival, which will be officially opened on Monday 8 August 2022 by Patrick Harvie as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
The Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants’ Rights will be keynote speaker at the launch of the week-long renewables jamboree, which will deliver practical assistance and advice to help Scotland become a net zero nation.
Organised by the Construction Industry Collective Voice (CICV) – of which FIS is a key member – the five-day event will see 12 in-person and virtual presentations on green topics, targeting homeowners, professionals, housing associations and local authorities.
Iain McIlwee, FIS Chief Executive said:
“As a member of the CICV, we are delighted to support this inaugural festival, which will see industry experts share their knowledge and expertise with delegates to help inform about renewable technology.”
Live Green Home Festival sessions will take place at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) at 10 Charlotte Square in central Edinburgh. Each will offer demonstrations and hands-on guidance to help people reduce their carbon footprint and become more energy efficient.
With contributions from fellow CICV members including SELECT, SNIPEF and the National Federation of Roofing Contractors, the range of topics covered will include:
- Demystifying heat pumps
- Improving energy efficiency
- Building green neighbourhoods
- Protecting against floods
- Using sustainable materials
- Living safely in the future
- Hitting the road with EVs.
Online events include a webinar entitled Retrofitting a tenement, in which experts will explain how to reduce heating costs and cut carbon emissions in traditional buildings, including a Q&A and virtual tour of a renovation in Glasgow.
In another online session, Taking the Swedish View, award-winning Swedish construction company, Botkyrkabyggen, will reveal how they use solar panels, wind turbines, artificial intelligence and district heating to improve energy
Mr Harvie, who will kick off events at Charlotte Square before the first event, said:
“This inaugural Green Home Festival is greatly to be welcomed and its organisers, the members of the CICV, warmly congratulated on the initiative.
“The climate emergency is already upon us, and if we’re to stand a chance of preventing its worst consequences we need both government and industry to support a transformation of our homes and buildings. Many of the actions and new ideas needed are being advocated by the expert speakers and presenters over the week-long Green Home Festival programme.”
Members of the CICV are now aiming to build the week-long green jamboree into an annual event.
One of the organisers, Gordon Nelson, Scotland Director of the Federation of Master Builders, said:
“This event will highlight the important role that construction will play for Scotland to achieve its net zero target in the years ahead, and also help householders understand the new technology and ways of doing things.
“Delivered via collaboration across the Scottish construction industry through CICV, we are aiming to make this inaugural event an annual occasion that will help to build a long-term legacy and demonstrate our commitment to greener, low-carbon solutions.”
Full details, including how to book tickets for each event, are available on the Festival’s website at greenhomefestival.co.uk.
The festival is the latest in a string of practical and constructive initiatives launched by the CICV since its creation at the start of the pandemic in March 2020.
Made up of 29 trade associations, professional services bodies and companies, including FIS, it has maintained a steady supply of information and practical advice to the sector as well as carrying out surveys, producing animations and posters, hosting webinars and maintaining close dialogue with Scottish Government ministers.
by Clair Mooney | 13 May, 2022 | Sustainability
Net Zero is rapidly becoming a high priority and therefore the FIS Sustainability Group has put together a series of papers to help FIS members understand more about the net zero agenda and its relevance to the finishes and interior sector. These papers provide members with an overview of:
- How to measure the whole life carbon impacts of products and projects using a life cycle assessment (LCA) approach
- What net zero means at project and organisational levels and approaches to measuring the carbon footprint of an organisation
- An action plan for the sector to start getting a better understanding of the performances of FIS members
These papers provide an overview of the most commonly used jargon in relation to the topic, how to measure, what the drivers are and references to other relevant information.
They are freely available to FIS members at https://www.thefis.org/knowledge-hub/sustainablility/sustainability-related-to-your-activities/net-zero/
by Clair Mooney | 26 Apr, 2022 | Sustainability
The Competition and Markets Authority has produced its Green Claims Code to help businesses understand how to communicate their green credentials while reducing the risk of misleading consumers. The Code focuses on 6 principles that are based on existing consumer law, these are:
- claims must be truthful and accurate
- claims must be clear and unambiguous
- claims must not omit or hide important relevant information
- comparisons must be fair and meaningful
- claims must consider the full life cycle of the product or service
- claims must be substantiated
These bear similarity to our sector’s Code for Construction Product Information which emphasizes the need for clear and robust statements about the performance and impact of a product. This applies to green claims just as much as to other performance claims. This is an area we may need to visit in more depth to ensure green claims in our sector are robust. If you are making a claim about the environmental impact of a product then it should be on the basis of the standard EN 15804 to produce an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD). This considers impact through the whole lifecycle of a product.
by Oscar Venus | 21 Apr, 2022 | Main News Feed, Sustainability
Duty to report
Organisations with more than 500 employees and a turnover over £500 million are now required to report climate‐related financial information on an annual basis. The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has published guidance to help organisations understand how to meet the new requirement.
This is likely to impact many companies in the finishes and interiors sector supply chain. Whilst most won’t be reporting, they will likely be under greater pressure to supply information and data to their larger clients.
Plastic Packaging Tax
The UK Government has introduced the Plastic Packaging Tax. This Tax came into force on 1st April 2022 and will be charged at a rate of £200 per tonne. The tax applies to ’packaging that contains more plastic by weight than any other single material’. However, packaging that contains at least 30% recycled plastic is exempt. For more details see the paper written by CPA here.
Need help complying, you can talk to the FIS Sustainability Champion on 0121 707 0077
Visit the FIS Sustainability Hub
by Oscar Venus | 21 Apr, 2022 | Main News Feed, Sustainability
The New Hospital Programme (NHP), which is developing 48 hospitals by 2030, has published the NHP Supplier Guide. The guide is aligned to the Construction Playbook and sets out what is important to the NHP ‐ better, faster and greener procurement ‐ and what it requires from its supply chain to realise the opportunities available. The guide, which will be updated regularly, follows publication of the first NHP commercial pipeline, which gives suppliers visibility of current and future contract opportunities on proposed projects up to 2024.
Commenting on the launch of the new Guide NHP Commercial Director, Emma-Jane Houghton stated:
“Traditionally each time we build a new hospital today, it’s effectively treated as a standalone scheme that fails to fully capture the opportunities to standardise design, leverage scale or foster long term sustainable growth within the UK supply chain.
The NHP represents a dramatic shift from traditional ways of hospital building. We have a unique opportunity to create an infrastructure ecosystem that transforms the way hospitals are designed, procured and constructed.
The scale of the New Hospital Programme will call upon the skills and expertise of companies of all sizes, across a broad range of sectors.
This is an opportunity for businesses to make long-term investments in their capabilities, create jobs, drive growth and help in delivering world-leading experiences for patients and staff. We need to bring the right people and the right teams together to foster innovation and deliver hospitals of the future That’s why we’re calling upon the knowledge and experience of the widest breadth of suppliers from construction components, medical equipment and beyond.”
You can download the NHP Supplier Guide here
by Oscar Venus | 21 Apr, 2022 | Main News Feed, Sustainability
The Government has released its British Energy Security Strategy with the aim of providing secure, clean and affordable energy for Great Britain. It sets out how the deployment of wind, nuclear, solar and hydrogen will be accelerated, which could see 95% of electricity being low carbon by 2030, whilst supporting the production of domestic oil and gas in the nearer term. Offering significant opportunities for construction, measures include planning reforms to cut the approval times for new offshore wind farms from four years to one year and a £120 million Future Nuclear Enabling Fund which could see eight new reactors built across Britain.
To help the industry reduce its reliance on diesel in line with the CO2nstruct Zero target to eliminate 78% of diesel plant from sites by 2035, Build UK has published its ‘Drive Out Diesel’ guide which contains a range of tips to use less diesel, go alternative and use more electric plant and equipment on site.
