New ministers must transform the built environment for net zero

The latest Government reshuffle has brought new ministers in to critical positions with responsibility for managing and greening the built environment.

Steve Barclay MP has been appointed Secretary of State for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Lee Rowley has been appointed Housing Minister in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

Responding to the reshuffle Simon McWhirter, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) said: “We look forward to working with the new ministers and Secretary of State on the wide range of priorities that are critical to the future of the UK’s built environment, including nationwide upgrade of millions of homes, bringing in the Future Homes and Buildings Standard 2025, rapid rollout of Biodiversity Net Gain, and progress on enhancing resilience to our dangerously changing climate.

“Just as no company could hope to deliver strong results if they’d had 16 changes of top executive in 13 years, the unprecedented turnover of ministers leading our portfolios has hampered progress in the built environment at the very time that we needed to be accelerating towards net zero.

“We urge the Government to make the most of the coming months by finally investing in the proven, scalable, and transformative changes that are urgently needed to tackle the interlocking climate and cost of living emergencies.”