Home improvements and climate change

UK's first Green Building Maintenance Conference will discuss issues raised by potential climate change pitfalls for 'green' home improvements.

"We should only proceed with green improvements to existing homes if we fully understand the implications", is one message that will go out from the UK's first ever Green Building Maintenance Conference and Exhibition on Thursday 7th January 2010 at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff.

This high level event is set to focus professional attention on how effective building maintenance is essential for tackling and coping with the effects of climate change.

It comes at a highly appropriate time following the Copenhagen climate change summit.

This flagship event, which is being hosted by UWIC in partnership with the Chartered Institute of Building, will attract built environment professionals and experts from right across the country.

Simon Cousins, UWIC's Building Maintenance Programme leader, says: "Existing buildings have already produced carbon and have used precious resources in their original construction, so it makes sense not to demolish them but to maintain them".

"Proper maintenance will help buildings survive through climate change, but we should only proceed with green improvements if we properly understand the implications, otherwise we could be creating other problems for the buildings and their occupants.

"As climate change takes hold, the simple things like clearing gutters and drains will become even more important, but other issues such as sealing up and insulating traditional buildings are a lot more complex".

John Edwards, chair of the expert panel in building maintenance at The Chartered Institute of Building, says: "With so much emphasis on new green buildings and refurbishment, we are pleased that we can debate the credentials of the most common activity.

"Maintenance and repair is estimated to be 47% of the construction industries output, so if we really want to reduce green house gas output by 80% by 2050, we can't afford to ignore building maintenance".

The conference will focus on a broad range of issues from both a practitioner and policy perspective.

It will also challenge some of the current thinking and common approaches to building maintenance.

Simon Cousins continues: "The UK runs the risk of seeing a huge chunk of its building stock prematurely decaying because of basic building maintenance neglect and making improvements that are not well considered.

"One of the major problems is training and education, as the majority of those involved in building maintenance have been trained in constructing new buildings and not maintaining existing ones.

The problem is even more acute in Wales, as we have the oldest building stock in the UK, with one in three homes built before 1919, as opposed to one in five across the UK".

The organisers of the event are hoping to raise awareness that building maintenance is the most essential ingredient in both tackling and coping with climate change.

The conference agenda will highlight to policy makers the true green credentials of pre 1919 built buildings and that proceeding with caution is the best approach.

It will also highlight that traditional ways of maintaining pre 1919 built buildings is the best way of sustaining their future, and that many of the additions and modifications to existing buildings, may provide very difficult and costly future maintenance problems.

UWIC is one of only three universities in the UK to run a degree in building maintenance and is therefore at the forefront in the education of best practice in building maintenance, with sustainability and climate change issues right at the top of its agenda.

The very first UK Green Building Maintenance Conference and Exhibition takes place at UWIC's Llandaff campus on the 7th January 2010.

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