Sir
John Harman considers: ‘construction on a crowded island’ at sustainability
event On Tuesday evening this week, the Annual Sustainability lecture – organised by CIRIA, the UK’s leading champions of performance improvement in construction and the environment – was presented at the Royal College of Physicians, London to an audience of over 100 key stakeholders from across the construction and related industries.
Following a short presentation from CIRIA Director Dr Owen Jenkins outlining CIRIA’s ongoing commitment to sustainability, Sir John Harman, Chairman of The Environment Agency took centre-stage to address the full capacity auditorium. Sir John – who received a knighthood in June 1997 in recognition of his services to local government and the environment – provided an informative, thoughtful and authoritative hour-long lecture, in which he set out the main challenges facing the industry.
The presentation discussed at length construction’s contribution to carbon impact and the strain that the built environment is placing on natural systems – particularly in the South East of England. To conclude, Sir John emphasised the need for what we build today to cope with changing environmental risks over its lifetime.