Industrial buildings may be demolished to meet new targets

16:01:20 26th January 2010

A number of industrial buildings built in the UK during the 1960s and 70s may have to be demolished in order to meet new carbon emission standards.

In an interview with the Times, the government's chief construction adviser Paul Morrell states that it would be difficult to refurbish some buildings from that era to a sufficiently high standard.

He told the news provider the buildings that pose the most difficulties are the "semi-industrialised, highly inefficient, badly insulated and so ugly that they are not worth refurbishing".

Under the UK Low Carbon Transition Plan, the government has set a long-term target to cut carbon emissions by 80 per cent by 2050, compared with levels in 1990.

The plan aims to achieve a 34 per cent cut in emissions by 2020, and has already delivered a 21 per cent cut since 1990 – equivalent to cutting emissions entirely from four cities the size of London, according to the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC).