BRE Scotland & Construction Scotland recently held a joint annual conference in Glasgow exploring the complex challenges that the construction sector and corporate organisations face in reducing the carbon impact of their businesses.

Fergus Ewing, MSP, Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism in Scotland and the Leader of Glasgow City Council, Gordon Matheson presented their views to the 130 delegates on the progress being made in the city and around the country in reducing carbon and developing Scotland’s low carbon economy.

The Minister spoke about the recent target set by Government for a 42% CO2 reduction in the country by 2020 and how this would present strategic business opportunities for Scotland. He also confirmed Government’s commitment to capital investment across the country in the coming years and the key role it will play in keeping the economy buoyant.

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Gordon Matheson described the positive role that the 2014 Commonwealth Games will have in driving change: "The Games give us a great opportunity to ensure that Glasgow thrives during the economic downturn’ Matheson said ‘What we build will be a global exemplar in terms of the legacy and the sustainability – we will set a new standard for construction that can be replicated across Scotland."

Other speakers included Prof Jim McDonald from the University of Strathclyde, who spoke about the challenges around energy generation and existing homes and buildings, announcing that a massive 30% of households in Glasgow are now in fuel poverty. He urged BRE Scotland to continue to drive innovation in the retrofit arena and stressed the importance of projects like the Innovation Park at Ravenscraig.

Dr Peter Bonfield, CEO of BRE concluded the speaker sessions by explaining how lessons learned from the 2012 Olympics procurement approach on the build programme holds the key to growth for the UK. He explained how intelligent procurement where the client engages the supply chain for solutions to a specific challenge or aim can unlock world class innovation in terms of products, materials and technologies and processes – this benefits the UK but also creates huge export potential.

(GK)