London businesses urged to sign up to sustainability research institute

Fresh from formally appointing its new management board, the Thames Gateway Institute for Sustainability is stepping up its search for London businesses capable of taking part in its wide-ranging research programme.

The organisation, which aims to undertake £50m worth of low-carbon demonstration projects over the next two years, already boasts a number of high-profile corporate backers including GE, IBM, Marks & Spencer and Siemens, and is now looking to extend its membership to support a wide range of new projects designed to curb environmental impacts across east London and the new Thames Gateway developments.

The recruitment drive will be led by the group's newly formed board, chaired by Peter Head, chairman of global planning at engineering giant Arup, and includes the mayor of London's environmental adviser Isabel Dedring; Liz Peace, chief executive of the British Property Federation; and managing director of Veolia Environmental Services, Keith Riley.

Head said that the institute's focus would now be on delivering practical projects that physically demonstrate how environmental impacts can be reduced across a large city such as London.

"There is a missing link between the ambitious vision and targets, and the practical mechanisms on the ground to tackle climate change," he said, adding that the institute would attempt to bridge that gap by bringing together businesses, academics and policymakers to identify the most effective sustainability strategies.

The organisation is already working on a project to identify the most effective means of retrofitting homes to a level where they attain zero-carbon status. In addition, it is also working on initiatives to replicate the sustainability best practices pioneered by the London Olympics development and assess the viability of community scale waste, energy and water infrastructure.

A spokeswoman for the institute said that it was now looking for businesses to get involved with a new wave of demonstration projects, including plans for the installation of new green roofs at a housing development in east London, the development of a waste-to-energy plant at Dagenham Docks, and a feasibility assessment of proposals designed to cut carbon emissions from the Dartford Tunnel through the use of a new automatic charging system for motorists.