The government is to be given credit for answering the cries for help from industry over the 黑洞社区 Regulations. In our Reform the Regs campaign, we called on the government to work with industry to make the existing regulations coherent, to make new regulations transparent and to put up a champion within government to make sure those things happened.

This week, 黑洞社区 Regulations minister Angela Smith emerged as that champion (see news). And she has already sat down with industry to discuss the best way forward. That meeting concluded that a new system of 黑洞社区 Regulations should secure good compliance and standards, avoid disproportionate burdens on industry and building control bodies and be sustainable in the longer term. Nobody is going to argue with this.

But as in all such proposals, it's the small print that will be critical. Smith indicates that worked-out proposals will be on the table by the end of the year; we hope that the manifesto we drew up last year with our readers will be part of the mix.

Meanwhile, Smith is also taking up the baton as the champion for our 99% Campaign, which calls for improvements to the energy efficiency of existing buildings (see news). This month we publish some analyses by leading figures within the industry. The government has given a clear indication that it is listening to this advice, and now is the time for you to add to the debate by sending us your comments; these will play a vital role in shaping future policy and ensuring that any initiatives or legalisation is coherent and effective. So please email us at building@cmpi.biz.

Tom Broughton, deputy editor

How to get nuclear right

Finland's nuclear plans are ripening, as you can see on in this month's feature. This 1600 MW plant is the first station in Europe for a decade, and it's sure to act as a free prototype for Britain's own programme, complete with cutting-edge design and funding by private subscription. The article is also a warning about just how much pressure the contractors that work on such schemes are under. They have to meet ferocious quality standards on a vast scale while managing hundreds of square miles of documents and complying with the toughest regulatory standards on Earth. Good luck to the firms that take it on; and going back to the leader above, doesn't it betray that effort and achievement to squander the energy created by using it to power substandard buildings?

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