The UK Government’s new chief construction adviser has said that the Government may be forced to demolish a large number of British buildings erected in the 1960s and 1970s if they are to meet ambitious Carbon Emissions reduction targets.
Speaking in The Times, Paul Morrell, who took up his new post at the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills at the end of November last year, said: “In the Sixties, everything was built cheaper, faster and nastier. If you are going to try to fix buildings, then really you won’t have too many problems with anything built earlier than the Fifties or after the Eighties. Although you can do some things to buildings from the Sixties and Seventies, like replacing the roofs, there are probably some places that need to come down entirely.”
If Morrell’s predictions come true, it will be a fitting reward for an industry that has spearheaded the green agenda with its world-beating levels of materials recycling.
Demolition News, 25th January 2010
