Adrian Wyatt announces a groundbreaking Green Paper for cross-industry sustainable thinking.

Property industry leaders today pledged to join forces to tackle the impact of the built environment on climate change and create truly sustainable communities.

Speaking at the Low Carbon World Conference in London, Adrian Wyatt, CEO of Quintain Estates & Developments and founder of the Sustainable Environment foundation, revealed that working groups from across the industry were already putting together a comprehensive Green Paper to submit to Government outlining practical approaches to the establishment of a truly sustainable built environment.

The ground-breaking initiative, coordinated by the Sustainable Environment Foundation and supported by world-renowned architect and town planner Sir Terry Farrell, will encourage greater cooperation across industry disciplines and more radical reform of the planning system. It plans to submit its wide-ranging Green Paper to Government within a year.

Making the announcement, Adrian Wyatt told conference delegates:

‘It is my passionate belief that the business model we use today in the property and development sector is fatally flawed. Without new ways of doing business, we will repeat the errors of the past and our one-off opportunity to rectify the issues we face in the built environment will be lost. We need joined up thinking in our policies and we are going to ensure our proposals work as a joined up whole.

‘I know it can be frightening to throw away the rule books, but it can be liberating and exhilarating, too. Within our organisations, within the scope of human knowledge, we have the ability to solve the problem we ourselves have caused.’

The planned Green Paper is supported by Sir Terry Farrell, a trustee of the Sustainable Environment Foundation and social entrepreneur Lord Andrew Mawson, who are both involved in the development of the Thames Gateway, as well as other major architects, planners, contractors and associated groups.

The Sustainable Environment Foundation is a unique property industry charity founded to promote public awareness of and research into the impact of the built environment on climate change. It champions a holistic approach to sustainable development, focusing on cross-industry thinking rather than the traditional segregated approach.


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Notes to Editors

The Foundation is hosting the 'Living in a Low Carbon World Conference 2008' on 17 April at the Royal Geographical Society in London.

This interactive one-day conference brings together leading figures from industry, politics and academia to discuss practical ways to develop and promote sustainable communities. For more information, please visit the Website at http://conference.lowcarbonworld.net/.