Housing Green Paper must set coherent strategy

The Concrete Centre welcomed publication of government's Green Paper on Housing, but has cautioned them to think through its strategy and avoid short term fixes.

Chief Executive of The Concrete Centre, Ian Cox, said 'While we welcome the Government's latest proposals, the concrete industry need a coherent Government strategy that will allow it to plan and build for climate change now, making the most of innovative design and the intelligent use of materials.

We are already responding to the challenge of climate change and the delivery of zero carbon homes.

The concrete industry is on board with the '2016 Commitment' on working towards an increased supply of homes built to zero carbon standards.

We strongly believe that factoring in rising temperatures when planning and building new homes is the right approach to take.

Concrete buildings are adaptable to future climates.

Their thermal mass properties mean they can absorb and release heat which reduces the occurrence of overheating so that less energy is needed for cooling which in turn saves CO2 emissions over their lifetime.

This is important as currently some 27%, of the UK's CO2 emissions arise from residential properties.

However, the thermal mass properties of concrete can be utilised in all types of buildings, including commercial and industrial.

A traditional masonry wall has up to six times more inherent thermal mass than a timber frame wall, thus delaying the use of air conditioning by some 20 years when used appropriately.

Concrete also offers other solutions and benefits as it is a good flood proof material for ground floor construction in the development of flood plains, is naturally fire resistant, has good acoustic performance and is durable.

Concrete basements can also help solve the housing density problem.".

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