The government’s adviser on urban design has accused the property industry of exaggerating its commitment to sustainability.
The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment said that, despite developers’ public backing for the “green agenda”, fewer than 10 of the 700 schemes it has seen during the past two years were genuinely sustainable.
Planning authorities have to send applications to be assessed by the watchdog’s review panel if they are of a significant size or of local or national significance.
“We see the evidence rather than the hyperbole,” said Matt Bell, CABE’s director of campaigns and education. “Sustainability is part of the corporate mantra, but we see very little evidence of developers trying to address it seriously.”
Several green industry groups have been launched over the past year – including the UK Green Building Council and the Sustainable Environment Foundation – but CABE believes that many of its members have yet to practise what they preach.
Among the handful of developments it commended were BioRegional Quintain’s
1m sq ft Riverside One in
8m sq ft regeneration of King’s Cross, N1.
However, it said that most schemes fell significantly short. Most recently, it criticised Centros’s redevelopment of the Tricorn shopping centre in
