• Emissions are much worse than previously estimated • Government urged to start refurbishment programme Public buildings, you may think, exist to serve the greater good: places we hope will protect, cure and educate us. But an audit of emissions from hospitals, prisons, police offices and museums has laid bare the toll they are taking on the environment.The government survey of greenhouse gases emitted by the public estate in
England and Wales shines a spotlight on the emissions of some of the country's most famous buildings – with embarrassing results. It also finds that hospitals and prisons are, in general, the worst offenders.In all, 28,000 buildings in public ownership emit almost 14m tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, the audit of emissions from public buildings in England and Wales found. Scotland Yard, Tate Modern and the Palace of Westminster are among the high-profile buildings with the worst environmental records.The findings come from the most comprehensive assessment yet of the role of the public sector in contributing to global warming, and the total emissions represents a 27% increase on previous estimates of the impact of the public estate."Our public building stock is leaking like a sieve, with an enormous carbon footprint and
energy bills to match," said Paul King, chief executive of the
UK Green Building Council, which campaigns for more efficient
architecture. "Government, as the biggest user and procurer of buildings in the UK, needs to lead by example and roll out a massive programme of refurbishment. We have the technology and we know this can be done cost-effectively, we just need to get on with it."Since October 2008, the occupants of all public buildings have been obliged under law to display a certificate of their carbon dioxide emissions which places them in a colour-coded band ranking from A to G with A being the best and G, the worst. Only 151 public buildings are ranked A while more than 5,000 are ranked G.The data was relea ...
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