Spotlight on… 

Simon Corbey, CEO , The Alliance for Sustainable Building Products

What’s your current role at your institution?

I am CEO at The Alliance for Sustainable Building Products (ASBP). We are a non-profit organisation with a mission of leading the transformation to a healthy built environment by championing the understanding and use of demonstrably sustainable building products, by organising events, advocating product standards, responding to consultations and participating in research projects.

Which past experiences have helped you the most in your current role?

I first began working in sustainability at London’s first green builders merchant Construction Resources, back in 1998. This was a fantastic place for me to learn about all the biobased and natural products that are now, thankfully, much more commonplace. It was so far ahead of its time, that it sadly closed down soon after I left. I then moved onto BioRegional, based at BedZED, where I helped set up One Planet Products and worked with B&Q on their product range, meeting their buyers through Asia.

What excites you about the research in the Transforming Homes project?

We all know that retrofitting our homes is a top priority, but we need to use the right products to do so. This brings with it a set of unique challenges that the Transforming Homes project is now coming up against, mainly around warranties, insurance and fire. I am pleased to say that highlighting these issues has brought interest from a range of stakeholders including the BRE. Indeed our sister organisation, the Sustainable Traditional Buildings Alliance (STBA), will be discussing the use of biobased products and the challenges they face in a free webinar next month.

The ASBP hosts our Natural Fibre Insulation Group, where we have brought together all the companies in the UK that manufacture and supply natural insulation products and so the Transforming Homes project is of real interest to the group.

Finally, it is a real pleasure to be working with such an amazing team, on a project that is pushing boundaries and right on the cutting edge of applied research.

How is your expertise contributing to the Transforming Homes project?

I am working on this project with my Director, Richard Broad. Richard hosts our Natural Fibre Insulation group. We have been advocating for legislation on embodied carbon since we launched in 2011 and Transforming Homes acts as a demonstrator to show that adopting a low carbon approach to retrofit is both possible and will bring added benefits. In addition, ASBP has built good relationships with government officials and we have made an introduction to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) on behalf of the project, to join us in forthcoming webinars. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MCHLG) are also keen to be kept in the loop with our progress.