Regeneration with Consideration: Roundtable Event Report
In the latest in our series of roundtable events, we hosted Brent Council for a panel discussion on the Borough’s recently published Climate Emergency Strategy targeting net Zero by 2030 and what it means for the property and construction industry…
Chair, Oli Lowrie opened the session with some broad remarks on the severity of the global climate emergency, including recent statistics from the Technology Strategy Board that 45% of the UK’s carbon emissions come from the construction sector/maintenance of the built environment. Oli called for the industry to strengthen its collaboration to reduce this figure and cited Brent Council as one of the authorities leading the change. Our two guest speakers, leader of the council, Cllr. Muhammad Butt and cabinet member for environment, Cllr. Krupa Sheth were invited to present an overview of the council’s Climate Emergency Strategy 2030.
Cllr. Sheth began by outlining how the strategy is divided into 5 key themes: consumption, resource and waste; transport; homes and buildings; nature and green spaces; supporting communities. These themes were described as “mutually reinforcing” and Cllr. Sheth acknowledged the huge scale of this challenge. “The council is clear we cannot do this alone and need a collective effort from the Brent community,” she said.
Cllr. Butt then picked up the presentation, explaining the focus of discussion would be on two of the themes; homes and buildings, and nature and green spaces. Firstly, he examined the challenge of improving existing housing stock, making these “climate resilient” with an EPC B rating by 2030. Potential considerations for this include Passivhaus, retrofitting with renewables, phasing out gas usage but Cllr. Butt stressed the importance of further government funding to achieve this as well as greater collaboration between PRS developers, RPs, owner occupiers and businesses.
In terms of new build, Cllr. Butt said the Borough’s population is growing and therefore “we’re looking at delivering up to 46,000 new homes by 2041.” The planning process and adoption of the Brent Local Plan will be crucial to this, he said, with specific emphasis on energy consumption, renewable technology, improving biodiversity, tackling poor air quality and improving sustainable transport. Part of the Local Plan also incorporates the Carbon Offset Fund, whereby development within the Borough that fails to achieve on-site zero carbon must make cash in lieu contributions. This funding has already generated £500,000 for investing in local carbon reduction projects.
Cllr. Sheth concluded the formal presentation by discussing the nature and green spaces theme, highlighting their ambition for Brent “to be one of the greenest, most biodiverse and climate-resilient Boroughs in London.” Cllr. Sheth emphasised one of their challenges is they are a landlocked Borough but need to do more than “just plant trees”. The council’s plan includes a biodiversity centre of excellence, flood management programme, green travel corridors, re-wilding the Borough, expanding the bee corridor and creating more sustainable buildings in parks.
Panellists representing developers, investors, housebuilders and architects were then invited to ask questions, which covered topics including:
sufficiency of government funding
speed of implementation
better use of Section 106 contributions to create sustainable opportunities
viability for affordable housing
setting a new homes standard for only electric energy use
lessons that can be learned from the Tesla business model in changing perceptions
improved connectivity between public sector, private sector and local community groups
the changing pace of technology and future-proofing design
Finally, youth delegates from the Jason Roberts Foundation, a charity working in the UK and Grenada to support young people and celebrate diversity, posed some hard-hitting questions around ending global warming, educating young people, implementing renewables without damaging the landscape and nuclear fusion power.
Chair, Oli Lowrie’s closing comments focused on this being the start of the conversation and the importance of keeping the discourse going to enable us to build greener cities. He also shared plans for Ackroyd Lowrie’s next roundtable event, also in partnership with the Jason Roberts Foundation, to better educate the next generation on the entire regeneration process including adopting a sustainable approach from the forefront.