As the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) hands out its most recent awards, Sarah Morrison chronicles the mainstreaming of green building in Britain.
Morrison looks at a number of indicators that show green building has established a major foothold on design and construction in Britain. According to BREEAM, a leading green rating system, 7,000 projects were assessed for their sustainable bona fides last year, more than double the amount assessed in 2009.
"Despite the economic gloom, the green way of building has never been more popular," writes Morrison. "And soon, it seems, all building work could be green. The Government is consulting on tightening building regulations so that homeowners undertaking major improvements would have to carry out energy-saving measures at the same time."
Morrison lists a number of the winners of this year's BREEAM Awards, which include Thameside Prison, Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts, and St John's Vicarage, Wembley, north-west London, "A traditionally built, zero-carbon dwelling...the first building of its type in the UK to comply with the highest level of the sustainable homes code."
Read the full story: Unstoppable! The rise and rise of Britain's green buildings
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