VELUX champions sustainable living at the Labour Party conference

1 October 2009

As part if its campaign to see human health and wellbeing placed at the heart of sustainable building design, VELUX Company Ltd hosted a 'Sustainable Living' Fringe event at the Labour Party Conference in Brighton this week.

The high profile panel, consisting of the Rt Hon Nick Raynsford MP, Lindsay Roy MP, Dr Richard Hobday of the University of Wales Institute and Kevin Brennan, Head of Sustainability at VELUX, debated the best way to achieve a balance between reducing carbon emissions from future housing stock and creating a practical, comfortable and healthy indoor environment.

The panel agreed that, while improving energy efficiency and educating the public on the reasons behind it was important, human health and wellbeing needed to be given greater consideration in new home design.

Kevin Brennan, Head of Sustainability at VELUX, comments: "VELUX is campaigning for sustainable homes that take modern lifestyles and the changing needs of society into consideration, while offering their inhabitants a healthy indoor climate. On average we spend 90% of our lives indoors and Building Regulations and the Code for Sustainable Homes are causing our internal climate to change as quickly as our external one. It is therefore essential that our future homes are able to balance a reduction in carbon emissions with a health and comfort, designing homes with people in mind, rather than requiring people to adapt their lifestyles to fit with the housing design.

"The use of natural daylighting and ventilation is prerequisite to a healthy lifestyle and the use of tried and tested renewable technology such as solar thermal is a commonsense approach to low energy building solutions."

Panellist, Lindsay Roy MP, adds: "It was an immense privilege to speak at the Labour Party Fringe event on Sustainable Living. With its Model Home 2020 project, VELUX is a great example of a company that is leading the way in creating sustainable houses which are fit for purpose, placing health, wellbeing and comfort at the heart of their design.

"Commendably, as well as aiming to meet maximum energy efficiency standards, VELUX has focused on the needs of consumers – in terms of ventilation, light and air quality, humidity and noise levels – and are campaigning to improve the existing housing stock, as well as new build. The company's engagement with communities demonstrates a mature approach to social responsibility and offers these communities a sense of ownership."

In an attempt to raise awareness and facilitate discussion around the need to build and design homes, which balance energy efficiency with sustainable living, VELUX has initiated a number of activities in addition to the Party Conference Fringe event. These have included parliamentary panels and round tables on sustainable housing issues, a Daylight Symposium to discuss the role of sunlight in building design and its Model Home 2020 project, which aims to prove that it is possible to build energy efficient housing that is both appealing to the consumer and can be easily and affordably replicated by the volume house builder.

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