This week saw renewed optimism for the green construction sector as Ecobuild experienced a three percent rise in visitors to London's ExCeL, with 44,538 sustainable built environment professionals flocking to the world's leading event for sustainable design, construction and the built environment.

Further boosting confidence in the market, policy met practice at Ecobuild this year as Ed Davey MP, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change launched the government’s consultation on the future of the Energy Company Obligation.

Focusing on making Britain's homes warmer, greener, and cheaper to heat, the minister proposed a series of changes designed to reduce costs for suppliers and thereby reduce the impact on bills for millions of consumers. He also talked about improvements to the Green Deal finance plan and the target to upgrade one million homes.

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Echoing this positivity, Greg Barker MP announced a £19 million boost for the Green Deal as it awarded funding for six community based retrofit programmes. He also stated that the Green Deal would receive a further boost, through the domestic Renewable Heat Incentive this spring.

Many of the world's most highly regarded solutions providers joined the event including Skanska, Balfour Beatty, Saint-Gobain, Baxi, Worcester Bosch, Mitsubishi and Travis Perkins.

In addition to the industry's major players, the event showcased a number of new Green Shoot companies introducing innovative ideas and products to the marketplace and the popular Biodiversity Pavilion covered subjects from bat boxes and living roofs to wild habitats and water management.

Paul King, Chief Executive, UK-Green Building Council, Ecobuild’s lead partner said: "Ecobuild has become the Crystal Palace of its day, the great exhibition where new products can be found and sold, and fortunes can be made in the name of green building."

(CD/MH)