ePolitix.com Stakeholders comment on the issues which have affected them over the course of the week.

Carbon Challenge

Stakeholder Response: UK Timber Frame Association

The UK Timber Frame Association (UKTFA) welcomed the launch of the Carbon Challenge competition.

Stewart Dalagarno, chairman of the UKTFA, said: "Timber frame manufacturers are expecting a lot of calls from housebuilders who will want to enter the Carbon Challenge.

"Both public and private sector developers aiming to meet the requirements of the Code for Sustainable Homes will gain a real, cost-neutral boost by using timber frame construction. 

"We also know that it's both commercially and technically feasible to reach Levels 5 and 6 of the Code using timber frame in volume housebuilding - the proof will be put on display at BRE's Offsite 07 exhibition in June.
 
"Of course it's possible to achieve energy and water efficient new homes without using timber. 

"But it seems completely daft that such homes should be built using other, more polluting materials that have such a high environmental impact. 

"Timber has the lowest carbon cost of any mainstream building material, even allowing for transport. 

"In contrast, the impact of extracting, refining, processing and manufacture of other building materials like concrete and steel is incredibly high, accounting for more than 10 per cent of global annual greenhouse gas emissions.
 
"The carbon dioxide emissions from a single timber frame three bed detached home are 16.5 per cent less than its brick and block equivalent, and new research shows that it is possible to achieve up to 86 per cent reduction in greenhouse gases simply by increasing the amount of timber specified in buildings.*
 
"We urge English Partnerships and the other judges in this Carbon Challenge to give greater recognition to truly sustainable building products and to highlight their use in exemplar developments, so that the learning can be shared across the whole housebuilding industry.

"In this way, we believe low and zero carbon homes can become a mainstream reality well before 2016."

Stakeholder Response: NHBC

A spokesman said: "NHBC is ideally placed to represent the views and concerns of both the industry and the consumer on the zero carbon homes objective.

"NHBC has specialist understanding of and involvement in the technical aspects of house building as well as unique knowledge of consumer protection issues through our Buildmark warranty.

"NHBC supports the government’s objective to achieve zero carbon homes to help reduce carbon emissions and supports the broader sustainability agenda.

"However, NHBC urges a careful and cautionary approach: This is a highly ambitious target, one of the most ambitious targets set for the housing industry in recent years.

"It is essential to adopt a sensible and managed approach. Renewable energy market is relatively immature.

"Designers and builders do not all have the requisite experience.

"Fifty-nine per cent of emissions come from appliances, therefore there is a limit to how much can be achieved through building design and materials.

"There are unintended consequences of renewable technology, eg. water leaking around roof panels or ground source heat pump leaking causing contamination.

Animal Welfare

Stakeholder Response: International Fund for Animal Welfare

The IFAW said it was a good week for seals as the minister for trade sought an EU ban on seal products

"This move sends a strong message to the Canadian Government that the cruelty of the seal hunt won’t be tolerated. We now urge the EU to take urgent action and implement a ban.

"Sadly, this announcement hasn't come soon enough to save the hundreds of thousands of seal pups due to be slaughtered in Canada in March and April this year but it is still a huge step forward towards closing down markets for a cruel and unnecessary product which nobody needs.

"Canada's commercial seal hunt is the largest marine mammal hunt in the world.

"One and a half million seals have been slaughtered on the ice floes of Canada's east coast in the last four years to supply skins for the luxury fur trade in Europe and across the world.

"IFAW monitors the hunt each year and is appalled at the unacceptable levels of cruelty involved.

"Independent veterinary reports have shown 79 per cent of sealers failed to check if a seal was unconscious before skinning it.

"A recent scientific report also suggested the harp seal population could be reduced by as much as 70 per cent over the next 15 years if hunting continued at the current level.

"Opposition in Europe has been growing over recent months.

"Belgium became the first EU nation to ban the trade in seal products nationally in January, and the Netherlands are expected to follow shortly.

"Italy already has a temporary ban in place.

"The European and German parliaments both recently passed motions calling for an EU ban and the Council of Europe also recently recommended all its member states introduce bans on the trade in seal products."