What if Construction can Change? How a ‘Green Thread’ of environmental responsibility may help to address legal liability issues associated with reuse

Mariya Rankin

July 2024

A paper based on the highly commended entry in the Hudson Prize essay competition 2023

The paper considers how the law of England and Wales might soon have to adapt to enable a Green Thread of environmental responsibility and overcome issues of legal liability associated with the concept of reuse in construction. The paper states that the pressing need to increase the reuse of building materials and elements means that the attitude of survivalism that has prevailed in the construction industry is no longer sufficient. There remains a liability gap in the current regime. To galvanise change, legislative action is necessary but such action must tread the fine line between the setting of parameters that will support the resolution of liability issues and over-prescriptiveness which will worsen rather than improve clarity. The author proposes that a regulatory ‘Green Thread’ has the potential to: (a) incentivise and promote reuse in construction as part of a greener agenda; and (b) facilitate the production of measurable criteria and workable obligations for reuse.

1. Context and background – 2. Liability and risk allocation – 3. Standardising reuse – 4. Legislative perspectives on reuse – 5. The Green Thread

The author: Mariya Rankin is a senior associate at Eversheds Sutherland (International) LLP

Text: 16 pages