Will Arnold is Head of Sustainable Products at the Useful Simple Trust, Technical Author for the UK Net No Carbon Structures Standard, Convenor of Part Z, and Going To Teacher at the University of Bath. Picture by Steve Cross, Instagram @stevecrossphotos.
‘Do you lobby here frequently?’ the housebuilder asked me, smiling.
It was my first time in your houses of Parliament. We were both there for an event on embodied carbon, and I was confident that Part Z might lastly gain some political traction.
He raised an eyebrow, curious as to what I believed could be accomplished in a single night.
‘I’m here 3 times a week!’ he stated, discussing the importance of representing his employer’s interests.
It struck me that this journey to Westminster was going to turn out to be quite futile.
It was a short exchange, but a revealing one. While sustainability professionals were producing evidence, writing reports and presenting at conferences, those with other programs were turning up in-person and making their case straight to those in power.
Turns out, technical wonkery alone isn’t enough to make the case for brand-new policy.
That lesson feels particularly pertinent to the existing RIBA governmental election.
At first look, this may appear like a regular institutional procedure. It isn’t. The next president will serve from 2027 to 2029, the duration immediately leading up to what will likely be among the most consequential UK general elections in years.
This matters since the larger political context is become less steady, not more. The UK has actually had 6 PMs in a decade, and might soon see a seventh. Two-party certainty is gone. Worldwide order is fragmenting. Today’s policies are short-term, reactive, and quickly reversed.
That instability matters. Because while politics speeds up and pieces, climate innovation continues to be sluggish, technical, and long-lasting.
On the one hand, there is real momentum. The UK Web No Carbon Structures Requirement. Widespread international uptake of embodied carbon. The very first building shortlisted for the Earthshot Reward.
But national policy remains stuck. Part Z lies waiting, and a coherent circular economy technique stays elusive. Greenhushing remains in. Strong ethical aspiration is out.
So now we have a strange imbalance– technical development on the one hand, political hesitation on the other.
And this stress is costing us.
Because while the industry progresses circularity assessments and carbon elements, the public don’t see that– and they don’t understand that they care. They just desire warmer homes, lower bills and flourishing high streets.
But they likewise desire a better future for their kids. Three quarters of the British public are still worried about environment change. But no-one has actually revealed them the link in between warm homes, low-carbon, and nationwide policy.
Therefore to the RIBA governmental election.
Now, more than ever, the constructed environment requires a figurehead capable of speaking up amidst the sound of short-term politics, who can make a clear, compelling case to both federal government and the public.
Not simply describing technical options, but translating them:
- Retrofit as convenience and price
- Circularity as preserving regional character, and minimising disruption
- Low-carbon as long-lasting value and supply chain security
In short, the next president requires to Make the Environment Great Again.
Not through slogans alone, but by recovering environmental action as something favorable, useful, and aspirational.
I know from my own experience working within an expert organization that they can be criticised for being slow-moving. But with that slowness comes connection and credibility– qualities in brief supply in Westminster today.
When organizations speak loudly and courageously, they can move mountains.
As such, the next RIBA presidency will be more than simply event. It will be a perfectly-timed platform, a speaker … and an obligation to deal with the worldwide problems– after all, 8,000 of the RIBA’s members are global.
You might argue that, as I’m not a member of the institute, my view on this is unimportant. However this is not just my opinion. The RIBA’s own code of conduct clearly requires its members to advocate for sustainable structures and communities.
The question is not whether that concept exists.
It is whether the leaders of our occupation want to act upon their own obligations when the politics around us become unpleasant.