The UK Construction Blog

The UK Green Building Council has set out new guidelines for the nation’s construction industry.

According to the council, the sector must boost its energy efficiency so that it can reduce carbon emissions by 50 per cent by 2020.

Paul King, the organisation’s chief executive, is calling on the construction industry to take into consideration the impact it can have on helping the UK to achieve its CO2 reduction targets.

Speaking at the UK Green Building Council’s annual conference, Mr King revealed scientists and pressure groups were now calling for CO2 cuts of 40 per cent and that the construction sector needed to play a bigger role in achieveing this.

He said: “We drastically need to cut emissions from all sectors, but the built environment offers the best cost-effective opportunity to do that. We have the technology and the know-how in the industry.

“I do not underestimate the size of the challenge, but I believe that by working together with government, industry and building occupiers, we can deliver cuts of 50 per cent by 2020.”

Industry giants Balfour Beatty and LendLease have given their support to the proposals.

Debt problems in Dubai have thrown European markets a scare, with chunky losses seen on all the major bourses. Stocks with any connection to Dubai were punished especially hard.

Dubai stunned financial markets late yesterday when it announced that Dubai World and its subsidiary Nakheel were seeking a debt standstill ahead of a restructuring.

Concerns over debt defaults naturally made investors wary of holding banking shares and as a result banks featured prominently among the worst performers. Credit Agricole, BNP Paribas and Societe Generale fell heavily in Paris, while Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank hit the skids in Frankfurt. In Switzerland, Credit Suisse took a hit while UK banks HSBC, Lloyds Banking and Royal Bank of Scotland were also under the cosh.

Airbus firm EADS (European Aeronautic, Defence and Space), which is part owned by Dubai, was friendless while Porsche and its merger partner Volkswagen got caught in the crossfire, on fears about the 17% stake in the merged company that will be held by the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar.

Cement maker Lafarge plunged on fears that Dubai’s troubles will signal a further slow-down in infrastructure development in the Middle East.

Away from the Dubai fall-out Saint Gobain took a tumble after Goldman Sachs cut the construction materials firm from ‘neutral’ to ‘sell’.

Across the markets, the Dax slumped 188 points in Frankfurt to 5,614, while the Cac lost 129 point to close at 3,742. The Swiss market index shed 138 points to 6,342.