Mr. Pat Barry:

Those about to engage in major demolition should be required to account for why they are doing so. They should be able to account for the embodied carbon of the new building. If there is an environmental or social benefit to building a new building, one should be able to account for it. Planners should require a report before a building is demolished. They should also require a pre-demolition order setting out exactly how all the materials in the existing building will be recovered to make sure no resources that could be reused go to landfill. It is a question of a combination of measures that make a developer think before proceeding with demolition. We should not be offering acarte blancheto demolish buildings without an appropriate analysis of why they should be demolished and the mitigation measures that could be taken if they are to be demolished.