How can we make ecologically sustainable cities,
towns and buildings a natural choice?
In this film we'll be stepping up from the individual level
to the institutional.
Really big changes can't happen until government, the private sector
and other players act.
But is anyone pointing the way?
All over the country there are environmental pioneers
experimenting with more sustainable practices.
We'll be looking at two projects in Cornwall
and asking, what would it take for them to become the norm?
First off, the Eden Project.
Everything we do, from in the office to transport,
to food, to the shop,
we try and be as sustainable as we can be.
We took the regulation building standards
which were concerned with sustainability
and wanted to raise the bar slightly.
We had to put together a travel plan to get the congestion down
and also look at more sustainable transport options for Eden.
The Eden Project opened in 2001 near St Austell, Cornwall.
Built in a barren, disused clay pit, now it's home to a million plants
including 5,000 different species from around the world
housed in two giant biomes.
It aims to get its one million visitors per year
thinking differently about their natural world.
But more than that, Eden also serves as a cutting-edge lab
for sustainable practices.
We'll be looking at their work in three areas
with a big environmental impact -
building, transport and food.
The newest building here is the Core education centre.
It's an expression of the Eden Project's aims
to set new sustainability standards in both its construction
and everyday use.
The brief we gave to the architects was to create a building
the size of a spaceship and structure of a sunflower
which they achieved beautifully.
Every choice about the design
was scrutinised against sustainability criteria.
The waterproof skin for the roof is a good example.
They wanted to minimise impact of the materials used
but maximise lifespan
and stretch the building industry's thinking about materials
such as mined metals.
Rather than say mining is wrong and you shouldn't dig things up,
we all use metal.
From my earrings to my watch to my car to the building behind me.
We use metal for everything.
So let's try and find a responsible way of sourcing it.
To do that we contacted all the major mining industries around the world
and they said we've got a mine in the USA
which is the most responsible mine in the world,
good social standards, good environmental standards.
I said we want the copper from that mine on this roof.
It took two years to trace the metal from rock to roof,
making sure all the transport and processes
were the most ethically and socially responsible.
We looked at all parts of the process
right from the beginning of sourcing the materials
right the way through to fabrication and minimising energy.
Even the contractors had to minimise energy in the vehicles they used.
We're now doing research to follow the process
and put certification behind it
so that other people can use what we've experimented with.
Energy use in the Core is minimised.
Photovoltaic panels generate electricity,
mirrors reflect daylight inside
and the roof collects rainwater for use in the building.
But is it just an expensive one-off?
What would it take for this attention to sustainability
to be adopted across the construction industry?
Maybe it's a policy decision.
Maybe we work with governments to make it policy,
forcing people to do things.
But in another way, as with the mining industry and this building,
they're realising that the public want it.
So it's consumer led.