The UK Government’s Critical Minerals Strategy positions domestic resource efficiency at the heart of sustainable construction, targeting 10% UK production of key inputs such as lithium by 2035 and doubling recycling rates to 20%. This supports the circular economy in construction, enhancing supply chain security for renewable building materials and reducing embodied carbon in materials through local sourcing. By integrating closed-loop processing and resource efficiency in construction policy, the framework underpins whole life carbon assessment and lifecycle assessment practices essential to achieving net zero whole life carbon performance in future building projects.

Concerns remain over proposed export restrictions on scrap metal, threatening circular economy initiatives and low embodied carbon materials vital to low carbon building and green construction sectors. The recycling industry warns that limiting material reuse could undermine low carbon design strategies and disrupt efforts to cut the carbon footprint of construction through sustainable material specification and end-of-life reuse in construction.

Ofwat’s £25 million Water Efficiency Lab promotes sustainable building design innovations focused on water conservation, aligning with broader goals for environmental sustainability in construction and life cycle thinking in construction. These measures signal a shift toward holistic net zero carbon buildings that balance energy-efficient buildings performance with environmental product declarations (EPDs) for transparency across the building lifecycle performance.

Policy uncertainty persists around the Biodiversity Net Gain scheme, which underpins environmental impact of construction assessments across sustainable urban development. Its potential dilution risks weakening the integration of green infrastructure into eco-design for buildings and undermining targets for carbon neutral construction.

The built environment now stands at a pivotal transition, where sustainable building practices, green building materials, and circular construction strategies converge to define the next stage of decarbonising the built environment. Delivering measurable carbon footprint reduction alongside long-term life cycle cost benefits will depend on credible frameworks that bind ambition with enforceable standards such as BREEAM and the forthcoming BREEAM v7, embedding sustainability and low-impact construction at every stage of the construction process.