Speaking at the launch of The Canada UK Sustainable Building Network, Jason Kee, trade commissioner at the Canadian High Commission in London, said the venture was a vehicle for knowledge sharing between industry, academia and government.
"It is a way to look at solutions and to help each other," he said. UK Green Building Council CEO Paul King said collaboration between green building councils globally was increasingly important. "We will do what we can through sharing that learning through this new network," he said.
Thomas Mueller, Mr King’s counterpart at the Canada Green Building Network, said Canada could learn from the UK which was "on a trajectory towards zero carbon building".
He said he was impressed with the UK’s focus on low carbon building and the government’s engagement. In Canada green building was driven largely by the private sector and applied to commercial buildings.
"We can’t directly transfer technology from the UK but we can do a knowledge transfer," he said.
In a panel discussion, Matt Hoad of HTA Design said Canada had a lot to offer the UK in terms of exports and "we could offer something in terms of innovation".
