A surprising number of new British construction projects are not in line with the country’s supposedly stringent sustainability mandates, according to a new industry poll published by the product information platform NBS. 

The survey revealed that just 14% of respondents worked on projects that always had pre-set sustainability goals, although a total of 69% said they had worked on projects with such guidelines at least “some of the time.” Only 4% reported working on net-zero projects exclusively.

A total of 52% of those surveyed said the main culprit was a lack of client demand. Costs and an overall dearth of government regulation were also blamed. Paradoxically, 97% of respondents said sustainability was important to them personally.

Christian Dimbleby, chair of the Climate Action Team for a group called Architype, told AJ he found the results to be a “depressing reading,” that “illustrates quite powerfully that the industry is pursuing sustainability goals in a siloed and fragmented manner.”

“We are only eight years away from 2030 and, instead of making huge positive steps forward, it seems the industry has been slow to change,” he said. “Given that there are so many proven and cost-effective carbon solutions already available like prioritizing retrofit and Passivhaus design, this should be a wake-up call to government to enforce higher standards, like they have done in Scotland with the work of the Scottish Futures Trust in education design.” 

Another 38% of those polled also said that materials were being value-engineered out of reach. More than 600 people were interviewed to produce the survey, which began in September. The full NBS report can be accessed here.