Around 100 people gathered in the Cardiff Marriott on Wednesday 10 February to hear experts from the green building sector share their views at the second annual Wales Green Building Marketplace, which was organised by RenewableUK Cymru and sponsored by Welsh Government.
The opening session was chaired by Maria McCaffery in her final appearance in Wales before she steps down as Chief Executive of RenewableUK. She was joined by Rhodri Asby from Welsh Government who drew on his experience at the Paris COP 21 Summit to talk about how this could influence Wales.
Innovation in the local authority and public sector was a key theme throughout the day with case studies from Bristol City Council, the UK’s first European Green Capital, and also from Bridgend County Borough Council, which is one of only three local authorities working with the Energy Technologies Institute to help generate an energy generation masterplan to be rolled out across the UK.
The sharing of ideas and concepts to make 21st century construction smart, connected and green gave delegates plenty to think about with a presentation about the WikiHouse concept whereby companies work together to develop sustainable building systems, which are then freely shared for anyone to build upon and improve. There was also a talk from Carbon Co-op, a group of householders in Manchester aiming to make large scale reductions in their home energy use.
The final session of the day was sponsored by Energise Wales, a business network for renewable energy and energy efficiency businesses. This included a presentation from Dr Peter Bonfield about the independent review he headed into standards of installation of energy efficiency and renewables at domestic level, as well as advice from experts about marketing a green energy business and how to retrofit low carbon measures.
Dr David Clubb, Director of RenewableUK Cymru, said: “This is only the second time we’ve held this event and I don’t think we’ve seen anything like it in Wales before that gathers so many experts of the sector in one place. It was a fantastic opportunity to get an insight into the way Wales is doing business – and where it will be heading in the future.
“It was a real coup to hear from Dr Peter Bonfield as his work is helping to shape the future of the energy efficiency sector in the UK. I was also very interested to find out more about open source platforms like WikiHouse.
“With building regulations devolved to Wales, we have a unique opportunity to showcase the companies and ideas which can make us a leader in sustainable construction and planning.”