Five initiatives to achieve major change for people and the environment

We have a new Government, with new beliefs, policies and plans, even if with an inherited and deeply constraining budget. Much ink has already been spent trying to predict what Labour will do in power given its focus on economic growth, building new homes and towns, clean energy, accelerating the journey to net zero and protecting nature. Change is on the agenda again.

Over the last few years the Edge, the built and natural environment think tank, has been discussing and working on the policy changes needed from our sector to deliver an equitable and sustainable future for the UK and beyond. Much of this thinking has featured in the conference events the Edge has organised for the Annual Conference at Futurebuild in the Excel Centre each March, but we have also been having extensive discussions with politicians, civil servants, representatives of professional bodies and civic society organisations and environmental campaigners, often bringing them together to tackle difficult topics collectively and in the room with each other.

Most of the outputs from these activities are available on the Edge’s website, but below is a summary of five of the initiatives that we’ve been working on. They may not be 5 Missions exactly, but implementing their extensively developed and consulted on findings would achieve major change for the better across society and to the environment that underpins our existence.

1._Overall policy recommendations

At the end of 2022 the Edge published its Policy proposals for the built and natural environment. This is a series of policy ideas under eight headings sourced from the wider Edge family:

1. An economy that supports the environment

2. Planning and investing for the benefit of society as a whole

3. Using our limited land intelligently and productively

4. Delivering essential infrastructure and transport

5. Building climate and biodiversity skills and understanding

6. Measuring, declaring and eradicating carbon emissions

7. Creating a resilient built and natural environment

8. Design and construction performing in the public interest.

See: https://edgedebate.com/s/theEdge_PolicyProposals_1122.pdf

2. Sustainability Competence

Since early 2022 the Edge has coordinated Workstream 10 on Competence, Ethics and Advocacy of the Construction Industry Council’s Climate Action Plan, which we had originally authored. Recently this has led to the writing of the Competence framework for sustainability in the built environment, intended to be added to the suite of competence documents published by the British Standards Institute.

The document is an umbrella framework for discipline-specific competency frameworks aimed at achieving understanding, commonality and a consistency of approach to sustainability across the industry, encouraging not only improved competence in the industry but also greater appreciation of how different disciplines can collaborate to deliver sustainable outcomes.

The framework is currently in development with an industry-wide Advisory Panel. An early version is currently available and a substantially updated version will be published for public consultation in the Autumn of 2024.

See: https://edgedebate.com/competence-framework-for-sustainability

3. National Built Environment Research Organisation

In the absence of an independent and authoritative source of expert advice and research on the built and natural environment available to all levels of government, as well as the industry, the Edge has consulted on and published Building Competence and Capability – The case for a Public Sector Research Establishment for the built environment (June 2024). With a government planning major home and infrastructure building programmes the urgent need for evidence on improving the quality, productivity and social value of the built environment could not be more pressing.

“This is a call for action to create an independent, authoritative Public Sector Research Establishment (PSRE) for the built environment … to improve the quality, productivity and social value of the built environment through knowledge creation and knowledge transfer. It would also increase construction industry capabilities, foster innovation and reduce risk.”The document can be downloaded from https://edgedebate.com/s/NBERO-0624_v10lr.pdf

4. Education for Change

Given the wide agreement on the threats posed by the climate and nature emergencies and the need for our sector to fully respond, it is hard to imagine that there has not been a coordinated effort to ensure that emerging undergraduates destined for the built and natural environment sectors are adequately equipped with the necessary skills for careers likely to be spent working on a net zero built environment and delivering ecosystem services.

the Edge has been running a series of workshops with students, employers, educators, professional institutions and, critically, registration bodies to explore how to achieve a joined-up approach to education and cross-disciplinary agreement on how to move forward. A joint statement of understanding and intent has been signed, to date, by 18 industry organisations. A full report will be available in Autumn 2024

“We … have a shared understanding that the climate and nature emergency presents an existential crisis not just for our immediate environment, but also for our planet.  It is fundamental that undergraduate education in all built and natural environment professions adequately responds to this crisis.  It needs to teach climate and environmental literacy and ethics and develop the ability in students to collaborate, communicate, challenge and advocate. 

“We agree that urgent action is required, and that this will require active collaboration between educators, industry, professional institutions and accreditation bodies.”

For further details see https://edgedebate.com/edge-events/education-for-change-workshops

5. Land Use framework

Land in the UK is clearly a finite resource, yet according to The Royal Society current land use commitments require 1.4m hectares more than are, or will ever be, available. If we are to use the only land we have effectively and productively a strategy is essential, underpinned by knowledge of what is already happening out there and its potential for future use – a land use framework.

In 2022 the Edge contributed to the House of Lords Inquiry into Land Use in England and since then it has organised a series of events on planning and land use aimed at bringing interested parties together and exploring how a Land Use framework could be designed, assembled and implemented to provide a platform for sustainable planning and development, culminating in an expert level roundtable this July.

See https://edgedebate.com/edge-events/edge-roundtable-173-delivering-a-national-land-use-framework for further details.

the Edge is a built and natural environment think tank and network. It is multi-disciplinary in a landscape remarkable for its abundance of single-discipline institutions. Started as a means of creating a shared space between the architectural and engineering institutions, the Edge is a voluntary group with no staff and multiple stakeholders across the built and natural environment professions. We encourage cross-disciplinary debate and campaign for change that will improve outcomes for society.

the Edge, August 2024

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