Guy Battle, one the UK’s leading environmental consultants talks to WAN in London about the Stern Review

"In the arena of architecture and building today, we are ready for this. As an industry, we have been getting fit. However we have been talking about this for some time now and are often frustrated by clients not taking the carbon problem seriously. This is now a real issue and the review will make a big difference. Suddenly the sceptics will wake up and realise that this is not just a possible issue for our grandchildren but will affect all companies within 30-40 years. Stern has moved this issue from a 'lets do this because it’s green' mentality and placed it firmly in the centre of the city with a 'do this or your business will fail' edge."
Shown here is the Madrid headquarters of Endesa, Spain’s largest power generator. The building designed by Kohn Pederson Fox with Battle McCarthy is an ultra low energy building powered by a complex combination of green energy sources including earth tubes and daylight with the result that the building is actually a net power generator heralding a new direction in building design.