Centre for Construction Best Practice Hosts Environmental Sustainability Roundtable

The Centre for Construction Best Practice (CCBP) connected leading academics, sustainability specialists, and industry practitioners on 3 December 2025 for a high-level Environmental Sustainability Roundtable at the Hill Dickinson Stadium. The event marked the launch of CCBP’s next major research theme and brought together experts from the University of Liverpool, University of Leeds, Laing O’Rourke, BAM, AHR, Morgan Sindall, Stepnell and Kier to explore the most urgent sustainability challenges facing UK construction.

The roundtable focused on identifying the sector’s most persistent gaps, tensions, and opportunities, with discussion centred on policy, carbon measurement, Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), accountability, and sector-wide knowledge requirements. Each attendee shared their primary sustainability concern, creating an open foundation for a collaborative and forward-looking conversation.

A recurring theme throughout the roundtable was the pace and volume of policy change, with participants noting a proliferation of new mandates, certifications, and decarbonisation targets that are often seen as ambitious but disconnected from practical delivery realities. One contributor observed that “the volume of policy change is now outpacing the industry’s ability to realistically implement it on the ground.”

The fragmentation of the supply chain was also highlighted as a structural barrier to progress. Thin profit margins and rising compliance costs were seen to be constraining innovation, particularly for smaller manufacturers and subcontractors. As one participant noted, “many suppliers want to do the right thing, but the resources required to meet certification and reporting demands are simply out of reach for some.”

Circular economy principles were widely recognised as critical to the future of sustainable construction. However, attendees acknowledged that significant operational hurdles remain, particularly around the logistics of material reuse, reverse supply chains, and the disconnect between demolition, waste management, and material supply networks. The discussion reinforced the need for better integration between these stages if circularity is to be achieved at scale.

Embodied carbon and whole-life carbon assessment featured heavily throughout the session. While their importance is now firmly established, participants agreed that progress is being held back by data quality, lack of standardisation, and inconsistent methodologies. Current EPD and LCA processes were repeatedly described as lacking sufficient oversight. One delegate commented that “self-verification and inconsistent data inputs are still far too common, leaving too much room for distortion and greenwashing.”

Accountability emerged as a central challenge across the built environment. Contractors discussed the reality that clients often set carbon expectations without full clarity on what is achievable, where responsibility sits, or how early design decisions lock in emissions. This gap in understanding can lead to unrealistic targets, variable requirements, and a lack of alignment between project ambitions and delivery outcomes. The conversation also highlighted that data-capturing models are not yet sophisticated enough to provide a complete picture of embodied and operational carbon, making it difficult to benchmark performance reliably across projects.

Lastly, a clear need for improved carbon literacy across all parts of the industry was established – particularly among clients and local authorities. Several attendees emphasised that many stakeholders still struggle to understand where carbon sits within a project lifecycle, how decisions influence whole-life emissions, and what good practice looks like. The group discussed the growing demand for accessible learning resources, decision-making tools, and competency-based training that could help embed sustainability understanding across planning, procurement, design, and construction.

The roundtable concluded with CCBP outlining its intention to use these insights to shape its forthcoming research programme. Early ideas discussed included improving whole-life carbon reporting, exploring the limitations of current EPD systems, examining the misalignment of policy expectations, and developing practical educational frameworks that could support industry-wide competency.

As environmental pressures intensify, the insights gathered from this session will help guide CCBP’s next phase of work – supporting the industry in delivering transparent, credible, and actionable sustainability outcomes. CCBP will continue to convene experts, facilitate cross-sector knowledge exchange, and champion research that drives meaningful environmental progress across the UK construction sector.