Anne Snelgrove MP has asked for the support of everyone in Swindon who is concerned about Climate Change, to help get her ‘green public buildings’ Bill on to the statute book.   

Anne put the ‘Public Sector Buildings (Energy Performance) Bill’ before Parliament today as a Private Members Bill, and will officially launch it in Swindon soon.   

Anne’s Bill is backed by the Sustainable Energy Partnership, a broad coalition of national organisations who have a track record of successfully campaigning on sustainable energy issues.  The thrust of the Bill is also supported by 199 MPs from across the political spectrum who signed EDM 1554 in the last session of Parliament.  

Anne said: “It’s time all public buildings went green. I want Swindon to lead the green drive by backing my Bill. Today I am calling on the Council, schools, businesses and residents to be ready to demonstrate their commitment to the environment – so we can help make climate change history. I am planning a whole range of activities around my Bill to help get the message across to the Government. We need the kind of campaign that stopped the plans to pave over Coate Water and sell off Lower Shaw Farm.” 

Anne will write to schools, Councillors, businesses, and groups like Swindon Climate Change Action to ask them to give her Bill their backing. A ‘Public Sector Buildings (Energy Performance) Bill’ Facebook group has been started.  

National organisations backing Anne’s Bill include: Help the Aged, RSPB, Campaign to Protect Rural England, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Green Party, Green Liberal Democrats, Tory Green Initiative, Help the Aged, National Federation of Women’s Institutes, Shelter, SERA, Tenants and Residents Organisations of England, Unison and WWF-UK. 

The short title of the Bill is: Public Sector Buildings (Energy Performance) Bill 

The long title of the Bill is: A Bill to make further provision about energy efficiency and microgeneration public sector buildings, and for connected purposes 

The co-sponsors of the Bill are:

Lyn Brown MP

Colin Challen MP

Elliot Morley MP

John Gummer MP

Andrew Gwynne MP

Joan Humble MP

David Howarth MP

Martine Horwood MP

Michael Meacher MP

Tim Yeo MP

Dr Alan Whitehead MP  

Extra information: 

The purpose of the Bill is very simple: it requires Government to procure only buildings in the top quartile of energy performance – something they have said many times that they are keen to do.  EDM 1554 in support of the Bill was signed by 199 MPs in the last session, with Colin Challen, David Drew and Alan Whitehead among its sponsors. 

Why is the Bill so important?   

First, the Government is a very big player in the commercial property market – with the central Government estate alone comprising around 10% of the total UK office market.  Central Government (which includes executive agencies etc.) occupies over 12.5 million square metres of office space in England, Scotland and Wales, accommodating around 570,000 civil servants. Commendably, the Government have recognised this, stating (in their 2004 Energy Efficiency Action Plan) that: “Strong Government leadership on the energy standards of the buildings it procures … can start to transform the wider commercial property market”.   

In the same document they went on to commit themselves to “procure only buildings in the top quartile of energy performance”.  Unfortunately, however, recent reports (by the National Audit Office and the Sustainable Development Commission) have shown that progress towards meeting the target has been slow.  Sadly some Government departments have shown less commitment than others. 

By giving legal force to the Government’s ‘top quartile’ commitment, the enclosed Bill will kick-start real progress across all Government departments and the wider public estate.  It will also help drive down energy use and CO2 emissions across the whole of the UK office market. 

Sources of Government Commitment to Procure Public Estate Buildings in the Top Quartile of Energy Performance: 

The first recorded commitment was in the Energy Efficiency Action Plan, published by DEFRA in April 2004 ("Energy Efficiency: The Government's Plan for Action", Cm6168, page 47, para. 136).  There the Government explicitly states:  "We will therefore in future procure only buildings in the top quartile of energy performance for the central Government estate."  This was accompanied (at para. 140) by a commitment that: "We will widen the coverage of this initiative to include the rest of the public estate as soon as practicable." 

The "top quartile" commitment was subsequently restated in the "Common Minimum Standards for the Procurement of Built Environments in the Public Sector", published by the Office of Government Commerce in September 2005.  Here the commitment is fleshed out in the following terms:  "Any new procurement project (whether new build, refurbishment, purchased, leased or the procurement of a service - e.g. managed workspace) must fall into the upper quartile of energy performance for the building type, [except where specific operational requirements prevent this]."  It is also explicitly stated that this minimum standard is "mandatory across central government, including departments, executive agencies and the non-departmental public bodies for which they are responsible".  It applies to the "procurement of a built environment carried out in England for a public sector client, whether through a capital procurement, a private developer scheme or a Public Private Partnership/Private Finance Initiative." 

The most recent restatement of the commitment was in the Energy White Paper (at page 67, para. 2.84).

Speaking on behalf of the Sustainable Energy Partnership, Jenny Holland said:  “We are delighted that Anne Snelgrove has adopted this Bill, which will kick-start a ‘green buildings revolution’ by getting the Government to demand the highest energy standards in the buildings they build or acquire. 

“Central Government alone occupies over 12.5 million square metres of office space in the UK.  Strong leadership on their part will start to transform the whole of the UK office market and make unsustainable, energy-guzzling offices a thing of the past.”

View the Public Sector Buildings (Energy Performance) Bill here.