UKGBC overlooking 'green ICT' potential?

We have talked before on this blog (eg: Greening Government ICT (2)) about the UK government's proposal for a Chief Construction Officer and how this individual needs to include promotion of information and communications technologies (ICT) in his or her brief. After reading Martin Brown's iSite post UKGBC task group too important to be so narrow? we can now add the UK Green Building Council to the list of organisations that need to embrace ICT more explicitly.

The UKGBC has appointed a panel of "senior figures from some of the biggest players in the sector" (see release for full list) to scope out a Code for Sustainable Buildings. But, as Martin points out, collectively "they represent too narrow a view of our industry".

• Where are the SMEs?
• Where is the mainstream facilities management expertise?
• Where are the training and educational representatives?
• Where are the younger generation or student representatives?
• Where are the 'alternative', non-mainstream perspectives? and most importantly....
• Where are the ICT or Web experts, the research and technical innovators?

Having been involved with a working group that produced a report for the National Platform for Technology on ICT and Automation, and having responded to the UK Government's draft strategy for sustainable construction (see Extranet Evolution post), BIW has long believed that ICT can be a significant enabler in delivering a more sustainable built environment. However, it is frustrating that such reports are often overlooked, ignored, misunderstood or perceived as irrelevant to those at the sharp end of the industry - often the ones that could make the most difference.

Hopefully, the supporting resources made available to the UKGBC's panel of the 'great and good' will alert them to the potential impacts of ICT. Better still, perhaps some or even all of the panel members should be invited to next month's Be2camp event? They might then appreciate how Web 2.0 tools could be used to open and maintain conversations with a much wider audience - resulting in a more inclusive debate about how we achieve more sustainable buildings.