10 March 2008
The General Director of Fundación Entorno-BCSD España, Cristina García-Orcoyen, presented the report: “We Build Value. Incentives for Sustainable Construction” in which action and market incentives are being claimed in order to foster sustainable constructions in Spain.
This report is the fruit of work carried out by the Sustainable Construction Group to which companies such as Acciona, Adif, Bancaja Habitat, Cemex, Grupo Eroski, FCC Construcción, Gas Natural, Holcim, Iberdrola Inmobiliaria, and Philips belong. BBVA and a Panel of Experts, supervised by the Sustainability Observatory of Spain, also collaborated in this publication.
At the presentation of the document, García-Orcoyen highlighted the need to “re-orient the market towards more sustainable models.” The construction industry is the driving force behind the Spanish economy and, although it is currently showing signs of slowing down, the situation has to be looked at from another angle so that the model continues to generate money,” she claimed.
CORE ACTIVITY
The document proposes a battery of incentives: for standards, taxes, and capital, so that both the private and public sectors, by means of real-estate companies, construction firms, land developers, and material and equipment providers, can incorporate environmental and social criteria to their projects showing they have “a competitive edge."
These are supported by six different core activities: land planning, the existing construction park, fostering self-dependence and energy efficiency, using resources that have less impact on the environment, sustainable mobility, and promoting quality of life using means that favour citizens’ health and workers’ safety.
According to García-Orcoyen, thanks to these activities "A new vision will be reached based on land planning projects that are more balanced. The motor of innovation also becomes a motor of change allowing us to make better and more responsible use of energy, water, and other materials. A new model that lowers the environmental impact and improves the quality of life is definitely needed,” she concluded.
February. (EUROPA PRESS) -
