Commenting on the Government changes announced in recent days, Dr David Strong, chief executive of Inbuilt said:

“The formation of a new Department of Energy and Climate Change is hugely important. The need for more joined-up thinking between energy supply policy and energy demand issues has been evident for a long time – you only need to read the Oxfam Forecast report this week to understand how disjointed things have been between DBERR and DEFRA and the damage this has caused. Even back in May this year the Tories’ Policy Exchange think tank published a report warning that the Government is in danger of missing almost two thirds of its targets on energy and climate change.

“So the real test of Ed Miliband will be how quickly he can get a clear and powerful policy commitment on these issues at a time when everyone’s worrying about the global economy, and how well he can influence other Departments to achieve effective cross-cutting change. In my view he needs a new Public Service Delivery Agreement in place as soon as possible to drive action by all contributing parts of government.

“Personally, I think it will be fascinating to see how the Opposition responds too. The Conservatives have appointed three shadow spokespeople to this brief. If they can work with the Government in the same spirit as David Cameron has promised to do on economic issues, we can have real cause for optimism.”

Dr Strong also welcomed the return to government of Margaret Beckett MP, who will now attend Cabinet meetings as the new Minister of State for Housing.

He said: “Margaret Beckett is considered by many as a safe pair of hands and someone who can calm a media storm, which is certainly part of what the housing market needs right now. She also has long experience of climate change issues from her time as environment minister, and tends to approach sustainability with a good dose of common sense. I hope she can bring these elements together. We need someone who can pursue sensible, pragmatic and genuinely sustainable improvements to UK housing, particularly existing homes, and calm the Daily Mail along the way.”

However, Dr Strong also points to the gaps that still exist in government to deliver sustainable built environments.

He says: “When we set up Inbuilt almost a year ago, we did so on the premise of an entirely new, integrated approach to sustainable design, planning and construction – working with all stakeholders, across all disciplines, in order to achieve genuine sustainability in our buildings and communities. I want to see the same attitude reflected in Government.

“It worries me that construction still does not have any strong representation in Westminster or Whitehall, that Building Regulations issues lie woefully under-resourced in CLG and that key decisions on housing (which will have a major impact on UK carbon emissions) will lie outside the scope of the new Department of Energy and Climate Change.

“Everything rests now on how these gaps will be plugged and how well the Prime Minister’s new team can overcome such structural barriers to integrated working.”

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