There is a strong sustainability flavour to this week’s CEW newsletter. To many construction professionals it remains a necessary burden, but Wales is leading the way in the UK as it still has some of the toughest targets on energy, waste and engagement with communities retaining  real ambition to become a world class low carbon economy.

Many of the answers to achieving these goals rest with us – the construction community. So it makes sense to stay in tune with ideas, developments and policies.

Wales, like the rest of the UK, needs more and better performing housing – so why not make sure it is energy efficient? We need to build with respect to our wider environment, so why not adhere to ideas and research around flooding and sustainable urban drainage?

Flooding is still dominating many communities across Wales as well as northern England and Scotland. So it is welcome news that the Government is has announced funding £3m for progressing flood protection works in St Asaph during 2016/17.  Carl Sargeant AM Minister for Natural Resources also confirmed a further £3m would be made available to the Coastal Risk Management Programme - which will use innovative finance to fund £150m of capital projects for coastal adaptation and resilience to climate change. That makes around £13m of work – all built by the Welsh construction industry. Look out for news of more projects, updates and bulletins about our Welsh countryside from the Government – even sign up for regular news.

We are at the heart of making Wales safe, environmentally strong and economically sound – construction remain the great enabler for our society. So we need to make sure we are doing it right.