The public and the government demanded the shed industry become greener and – as is apparent over many of the following pages – the developers duly obliged.
New buildings are there, or thereabouts, with most developers now adhering to the Merton rule (see p34) that is being adopted, although frustratingly piecemeal at the moment, by a majority of local authorities. Wind turbines are blowing into action, while technology is improving space utilisation.
However, while the buildings themselves are getting greener, the distribution of goods to and from those buildings is causing havoc to the environment – effectively undoing much of the progress made on the development side. Food accounts for 25% of all goods hauled on the road, and the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs says that the lorries that transport food across the UK release 10m tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere annually. This is 2% of the UK’s total emissions (see p23).
The problem boils down to location. Take fish, for example: caught then frozen in Australia; flown to Grimsby; driven to a central hub in Northampton; and put on another lorry to a regional hub in Huntingdon – before making its final journey up stream to a Cleethorpes supermarket.
The fuel efficiency of vehicles may be beyond the remit of shed developers, but the need for these vehicles to travel so far is not. The green excuse circle means that unsustainable development is blamed on the occupiers, who then blame the developers for lack of provision, who in turn blame investors for not funding schemes, who then say it is the fault of occupiers for not wanting them.
In reality, green is an industry-wide issue, and one solution is for occupiers and developers to consider further the location of distribution centres, and greater use of distribution at point of supply, or at least as early in the stage as possible. But this then throws the problem back at the shed developers who have spent the past few years consolidating their numerous units while chanting “bigger is better”.
Shed developers are right to pat themselves on the back for already taking on board the green recommendations and providing more eco-friendly buildings. They have done it so well, in fact, that the actual buildings in the future will not be an issue because they are green enough. But the task ahead will be harder and those that don’t try to become environmentally friendly outside their developments will be faced with the prospect of being left with a green building that is a white elephant.
