How construction can (help to) save the world, part 3

Focus on community needs

Hugh McEwen, partner at Office S&M

The best way to design responsibly is to make places that are resilient enough to meet future needs, and this can only be achieved by listening carefully, understanding needs and designing for the specifics of the community. Social sustainability is therefore as important as environmental sustainability.

The built environment’s impact on the climate is generally due to inefficiencies caused by spaces that are not fit for purpose, either operating poorly or having to be demolished. Generally these are spaces that are not “broken” but simply don’t meet the needs of the people who occupy them.

This is why we know engaging with users, wider communities and stakeholders is key. We embed ourselves in the communities where we live and work. We know that emerging practices are smaller and nimbler, with a greater connection to the places that they work. At the same time, we are able to innovate and collaborate in order to tailor our team, collaborators and partnerships to the task at hand.

For example, we are collaborating with wellbeing consultant Ekkist on a project to deliver a community space in an existing building in Newham, east London. As a resident of the borough, I know how important concerns around health, air quality, and covid-19 are, and we are responding to these needs by designing a space with wellbeing at its heart. This is also an opportunity for us to reflect on what culture means to the local area and build support and capacity for this to be sustained, rather than being erased and replaced.

It goes without saying that repurposing existing buildings is the greenest way of building, and by reinvigorating this space we know we can future-proof it. We need to be doing more with less. This isn’t just about materials; it is about space, energy and people.

Post-construction energy monitoring

Julia Barrett, chief sustainability officer at Willmott Dixon

While the construction industry makes strides towards decarbonisation in the design of future buildings, the elephant in the room is how we manage a building’s performance gap.

According to the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE), “the gap between modelled and actual energy performance sometimes exceeds twice the initial prediction”. This, coupled with the built environment contributing nearly 40% of the UK’s total carbon emissions – half from energy usage in buildings – means closing the performance gap has never been more crucial.

The “be seen” requirement announced as part of the London Plan 2021 expects all major development proposals to monitor and report on their operational energy performance for at least five years post construction. Willmott Dixon is working with its customers to embed our comprehensive Energy Synergy process into our after-build service to drive performance towards target levels post completion.

The process gathers measurements of a building’s in-use energy performance and compares it to our modelled targets. We do this for two to three years after handover to ensure energy-efficient standards are met.

For example, after handing over the £37m Warwick Sports Hub to the University of Warwick in 2019, we embedded the process into the after-build service. We monitored operational use across 12 categories from heating, ventilation and pumps, through to domestic hot water. Within the first year, it was delivering savings of more than £40,000 and a carbon dioxide equivalent saving of 98,520kg, enabling the sports hub to become the most energy-efficient leisure centre in the UK, performing 27.5% better than the CIBSE’s benchmark.

Standardised emission measurement

Othmane Zrikem, chief data officer of A/O PropTech

A vital step on the road to a greener construction sector may seem obvious, but is often overlooked: we need to be able to properly measure emissions. If we cannot effectively measure pollution, we will be working towards destination net zero with no confirmation that we are on the right route.

In practice, this means using tools that will accurately measure the amount of carbon produced by a building across its entire construction lifecycle. This used to be extremely difficult but emerging technologies are joining the dots between eco-design tools to take the step towards generalised lifecycle assessment – hopefully creating tools that enable project owners and their advisers to build secure and competitive carbon energy strategies, right from the upstream phases of real estate operations.

There are still no formal rules for calculating embodied carbon in the UK despite calls from the Climate Change Committee. Given that embodied carbon can account for half of a building’s lifetime emissions (according to the World Green Building Council) and that the built environment produces 40% of the world’s CO₂ emissions (according to the UK Green Building Council), it is imperative that the government acts soon.

Proper measurement is a two-pronged approach, requiring both innovative technological solutions and a robust regulatory framework that ensures everyone is using the same yardstick.

The benefits are clear: more data and a single, overarching benchmarking system mean the worst offenders will be shunned and will prevent greenwashing. In an increasingly environmentally focused world, the greenest firms will attract the most investment. 

This deceptively simple solution requires concerted effort from government regulators and industry. But, given the benefits – and when faced with a climate crisis – it’s an easy choice to make.