Greenbuild's Most Wanted

Footballer Gary Neville has failed in his bid to build an eco home after planning permission was turned down this week. According to the Daily Mail, Neville spoke passionately about his desire to create an energy-efficient dwelling for a whopping 90 minutes (perhaps that's the only timeframe he's comfortable with), but his enthusiasm wasn't enough to convince the good folk of Lancashire that the project wouldn't adversely affect the green belt.
Anyone who can speak passionately about a subject (and coherently, let's hope) for 90 minutes is going on my just-created list of most-wanted contributors for the website. It's called Greenbuild's Most Wanted. It could also be called Greenbuild's Most Unlikely, as I don't think even my powers of persuasion will be enough to bag any of these as contributors:

1. Gary Neville (see above).
2. Al Gore. Definitely beyond my budget.
3. Daryl Hannah.She appears to be completely bonkers but clearly can't be accused of greenwash.
4. Bill Bryson. He's president of the Campaign to Protect Rural England and one of the few writers to make me laugh out loud.

So, who else should I be putting on the Greenbuild's Most Wanted list? Do tell.

In good company

It's taken me a while but I've finally had a good look through this year's Sunday Times Green List, a compilation of the UK's best 60 green companies, to see how well the construction industry is respresented. According to the introductory comment, written by managing editor Richard Caseby: "Our Best Green Companies enterprise is unique. There are plenty of other environmental awards out there, but this is the first robust methodology to measure environmental performance and, crucially, to survey staff to find out whether the corporate green glow is more than just window dressing." All great stuff.
He goes on to say: "A total of 92 companies took part in the competition, of which 87 completed the process." Now, do correct me if I've misunderstood, does this mean that the 60 best green companies are, in fact, the 60 best green companies taken from a list of just 87? If that is the case, it's not quite as impressive as it sounds.
But anyway, I digress. I studied the supplement as I wanted to see how construction fared compared to other industries. Particularly as many construction companies will already have a high environmental impact as they tend to be energy intensive. Skanska is the highest ranking construction company, coming in at second place behind office supplies company UKOS. Last year Skanska UK cut its carbon footprint by almost a fifth, which is an impressive achievement and went way beyond its 10% target.
I realise that the way I started this post sounds as if I want to take some of the shine of those 60 green companies' achievements, and that's not what I meant to do. If these companies are willing to put themselves up for scrutiny like this, jumping through whatever green hoops that involves, then the chances are then they really are some of the best green companes in the UK.
There's certainly more than 87 companies in then UK claiming to be green, so why aren't more of them actually trying to prove it by undergoing some kind of environmental audit? Perhaps it's a cost issue or perhaps it's because they haven't got the eco credentials to back up their claims. Either way, the 60 companies in the list might not have had much competition, but should be applauded nonetheless for a fanstastic achievement.