Sustainability
NHS Estates: Cost Modelling for Operational Net Zero
The built environment contributes around 40% of the UK's total carbon footprint. It is therefore recognised that significant and collaborative changes to the design and operation of buildings are required if the 2050 net zero carbon emissions target set by the UK Government is to be achieved.
Low Carbon Buildings: G&T’s Observations
Based on our own observations there are an increasing number of alternatives to traditional cement and concrete. For example, blended cements and concretes that store carbon and are made from entirely different materials such as wood, hempcrete, straw bales and mycelium.
Managing Low Carbon Design in Commercial Buildings
Over the last two years we have seen an increasing recognition of the climate crisis as a fundamental briefing issue for a number of clients who now identify the net zero/low carbon agenda as an opportunity to positively contribute to the identity of their building and provide a point of differentiation relative to other competing developments.
Reviewing the UK Green Building Council’s (UKGBC) report: Building the Case for Net Zero
In order for the UK to meet its climate change targets by 2050, all new buildings must operate at net zero by 2030 which, according to the UKGBC means that all new buildings will have to be designed to meet the target of net zero operational energy by 2025. In the second in our series of articles on low carbon buildings, we look at the UKGBC’s “Building the Case for Net Zero” report and ask if net zero carbon really is obtainable in construction by 2050.
Are Net Zero Embodied Carbon Targets Really Attainable in Construction?
As the construction industry makes the transition towards net zero carbon emissions, there is a growing body of guidance and performance targets to help improve the sector’s collective understanding on how to design and deliver low carbon buildings. The industry is becoming increasingly aware of the level of building performance that will be required to achieve a net zero carbon outcome.
Decarbonising Transport
Climate change is the most pressing environmental challenge of our time. The scientific evidence suggests that we need to take action now, and the UK Government is making this a priority. In June 2019 the UK became the first major global economy to pass a law that requires the country to achieve 'net zero' greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050.
Future Health of Buildings
COVID-19 has created two new requirements for buildings: 1. owners and occupiers need to provide an objectively safe indoor environment and 2. they must communicate trust and a sense of welcome to those coming through the doors. While both are critical, they do not necessarily align.
Health and Wellbeing in Schools
How the built environment impacts health and wellbeing represents a critical and growing area of sustainability. We are increasingly aware of the connection between where we are and how we are. It is no surprise that the newest and most popular sustainability certifications for commercial buildings – the WELL Building Standard and Fitwel – focus on the building/body connection.
Office Well-Being
Unlike other sustainable items, buildings do not communicate in simple terms what they are made of and why they are good for you. Yet all of us are making stronger connections between where we are and how we are, all the time.
Stora Enso: The Case for Wood
Stora Enso, a Finnish manufacturer of renewable packaging, biomaterials, paper and wooden constructions, has developed a new flexible, modular wooden office concept.
Is BREEAM Sustainable?
Traditionally, measures of sustainability on building projects – for example BREEAM1 and LEED2 have been based on a very specific and prescriptive set of “environmental” criteria – energy use, water consumption and even proximity to public transport. However, the effectiveness and value of these forms of certification is under question. Why?
Green Lending
Green lending is the means by which commercial lenders provide development finance to borrowers who develop green buildings or retrofit existing buildings with green or environmentally responsible features. The lending is conditional on the borrower fulfilling certain environmental criteria. Generally, this means that the borrower’s sustainability strategy is closely scrutinised.