30 stakeholders from Irish construction industry gather to shape EU policy
The European network of World Green Building Council led a workshop yesterday in Dublin to input into new EU policy to develop a framework for Sustainable assessment of Buildings. This is to help the market move beyond considering only the operational energy aspects of buildings to look at other sustainability issues. This was one of many workshops run across European member states by the network. The event which was co-chaired by SCSI, RIAI, and organised by the Irish Green Building Council, was hosted at Google’s headquarters in Barrow St. Nearly thirty stakeholders from all sectors of the Irish construction sector participated in the workshop.
James Drinkwater, Senior Policy Advisor at WorldGBC said “The Irish GBC brought together a very strong, diverse community of experts for the workshop, and we were able to really begin mapping out both what the Irish market wants to see in terms of long-term policy to support green building, but also how the EU framework will have to function to help drive this market.”
Participants set out their wish list for this important new policy and suggested how they would get involved in the process to ensure that the Commission delivered something that was useful. They presented the policies they believe would be helpful at EU level to help overcome key market barriers to the growth of green building practices.
European Commission officials leading the design of the process stated “To all who attended the GBC workshop on the EU framework for building assessment that the European Commission is currently working on, we wish to thank you for your expert views. We look forward to counting on your active involvement and input as the process moves forward next year.”
Pat Barry Executive director of the Irish Green Building Council stated “We are delighted that the Irish Construction industry has a chance to input when there is a chance to directly influence the policy”
The results of the workshop will be compiled into reports by the World Green Building Council and are expected to directly impact on the proposed framework.
