The UK’s sustainable construction agenda is being recast by the Future Homes Standard and the debate over new towns, with sustainable urban development now judged on infrastructure, resilience and services as much as housing numbers. Environmental sustainability in construction is moving to the centre of policy, and sustainable building design must deliver low carbon design, energy-efficient buildings and net zero carbon buildings through stronger fabric standards and electrification. Developers face tighter scrutiny of whole life carbon, embodied carbon and life cycle cost, making whole life carbon assessment and lifecycle assessment central to sustainable design and building lifecycle performance. Life cycle thinking in construction is lifting demand for sustainable material specification, low carbon construction materials, low embodied carbon materials, renewable building materials, green building materials and green building products backed by environmental product declarations (EPDs). A circular economy in construction is gaining weight through resource efficiency in construction, circular construction strategies and end-of-life reuse in construction, cutting the carbon footprint of construction and the environmental impact of construction.

Record wind generation of 29.2TWh in the first quarter, a 16% fall in gas output and the removal of 221GW from the grid connection queue strengthen the economics of low carbon building, eco-design for buildings and green infrastructure. Plans to remove carbon price support on electricity from 2028 and weaken gas’s influence on power prices improve the route to net zero carbon, net zero whole life carbon and decarbonising the built environment. Investors and developers that align green construction, eco-friendly construction and carbon neutral construction with BREEAM and BREEAM v7 are better placed to deliver sustainable building practices and net zero carbon buildings at scale. Sustainable construction is being treated less as a corporate virtue and more as national infrastructure.