Read our response to the Chancellor's 'Plan for Jobs' below.
RIBA President, Alan Jones, said:
“The RIBA has long advocated for a ‘green’ post-COVID recovery, so I welcome the Chancellor’s efforts to put sustainability front and centre of today's announcements.
The £2bn Green Homes Grant will help some households become more energy efficient and reduce energy bills, but this must be the start, not the end, of an ambitious strategy to create a sustainable built environment. We urgently need a thorough ‘National Retrofit Strategy’ to fund the upgrading of homes.
To create safe and sustainable homes, the use of Permitted Development Rights to convert offices into housing must be scrapped, and all building owners and users must begin to measure and understand how well or badly their buildings actually perform through Post Occupancy Evaluation.
Given current levels of economic uncertainty, architecture practices will need more than the new Job Retention Bonus scheme to help them survive over the coming months. We know from past recessions that demand does not return across the whole economy at the same time – support packages for business must continue to reflect this.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
- Press contact: Abigail.Chiswell-White@riba.org or +44 (0) 20 7307 3811.
- The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a global professional membership body that serves its members and society in order to deliver better buildings and places, stronger communities and a sustainable environment. Follow @RIBA on Twitter for regular updates.
