New Alliance Builds Low Carbon Future

The UK's drive towards a sustainable built environment received a significant boost last week with the launch of a new partnership between the University of East Anglia (UEA) and the Building Research Establishment (BRE).

Both institutions have impressive environmental pedigrees and the pooling of their expertise and resources will provide pioneering solutions in the push towards a low energy future.

BRE will establish a permanent base on the UEA campus this Autumn, enhancing the university's ongoing carbon reduction activities and forging valuable links with staff and students within its world-famous School of Environmental Sciences.

'The construction and operation of buildings currently accounts for around 30 per cent of the UK's energy use. This must change - and change quickly - and I believe this exciting new partnership is a significant step in achieving that goal,' said climate scientist and pro-vice-chancellor at UEA Prof Trevor Davies.

David Richardson, director of the building technology group at BRE, said: 'BRE are delighted to partner with UEA. We view our alliance as a unique opportunity to work with the university, enhancing the reputation of both organisations in serving the built environment sector.'

BRE has been 'Building a better world' for almost 90 years through cutting edge research, consultancy and testing services. Its unrivalled knowledge in regard to sustainability and innovation is now used across the construction industry and in the corporate world, creating better buildings, communities and businesses. BRE is part of the BRE Group of companies owned by the BRE Trust, a registered charity. The profits made by BRE go to the BRE Trust and are used to conduct key research projects for the construction sector.

New legislation introduced in 2016 will require developers in the UK to build only 'zero-carbon houses' and progressively tougher standards will be introduced in the coming years. Last week, BRE and Barratt Homes unveiled the first zero-carbon house to be developed by a volume housebuilder.

UEA leads the world in the study of natural and anthropogenic climate change and contributed more authors than any other institution to the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Founded in 1967, its School of Environmental Sciences is one of the longest-established and largest in Europe, housing the Climatic Research Unit, the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, CRed (carbon reduction programme) and Carbon Connections, a university-to-business partnership supporting innovative carbon reduction projects. For more information on environmental sciences at UEA please visit: http://www.uea.ac.uk/env

BRE is now actively recruiting environmental scientists to join the new project and potential applicants should contact Christopher Gaze, associate director of manufacturing at BRE, on 01508 473007 or gazec@bre.co.uk