QPA seeks comprehensive approach to sustainable construction

THE Quarry Products Association has laid down its commitment to a strategy for sustainable construction but says the Government needs to broaden its focus on construction to include materials supply.

Responding to the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (DBERR) consultation, the QPA said it welcomed an opportunity for a ‘joined up approach’ to improving sustainability for construction ‘throughout the sector and [for] its regulators and stakeholders’.

However, the Association added that with national minerals policy underlining the need for a steady and adequate supply of materials, the omission of this position from the Government’s draft sustainable construction strategy needed to be addressed, particularly as the minerals industry is already making great strides within sustainable development.

The QPA said prime examples of the aggregates sector’s commitment to sustainability included an improvement in health and safety performance by 75% since 1999 together with a policy objective of zero incidents. These compare with far less rigorous targets (to reduce the incidence rate of fatal and major injury accidents by 10% from 2000 levels by 2010) in the draft strategy.

The draft strategy also proposes that the construction sector could deliver further benefits for biodiversity by developing active partnerships with conservation-focused NGOs and government agencies such as Natural England. The QPA has pointed out that, in practice, the aggregates sector already has a track record of working closely with conservation organizations and improving biodiversity and is looking to further expand this activity.

The QPA’s director general, Simon van der Byl, commented: ‘The quarrying industry welcomes a more strategic approach to ensuring construction is sustainable, but we are looking for a more holistic construction strategy which takes full account of the supply chain. We also hope that this greater focus on sustainability will encourage a more proportionate and reasonable approach to the implementation of regulation in our sector.’