Architects everywhere are designing the future now. What is built today will be our built environment tomorrow. Climate change and sustainability are baked into an architect’s training and we have a crucial part to play in raising public awareness of how designing buildings and places relates to reducing carbon in the atmosphere.
Carbon in construction needs to be considered in its two forms – embedded and operational. Embedded carbon includes the carbon produced during the procurement of the material itself and getting it to the building site. Operational carbon refers to the carbon produced by the building during its lifetime – eg through heating and cooling.
Our Process
When clients invite us to be part of their projects, we want them to consider energy efficiency from the beginning and we spend time with them considering how appropriate design and careful selection of materials, fixtures and fittings can reduce the carbon likely to be produced by the building as well as how the health of the people using the buildings can be improved.
This process will always be specific to each scheme whether houses, extensions or commercial properties and will take into account the project budget, scale, location and final use of the building. Solutions will employ fundamental principles of aspect, solar gain and building fabric and will equally consider novel or traditional materials and construction techniques to suit the requirement.
The 2030 Climate Challenge
RIBA has developed the 2030 Climate Challenge to help architects meet net zero (or better) whole life carbon for new and retrofitted buildings by 2030. It sets a series of targets for practices to adopt to reduce operational energy, embodied carbon and potable water. If all RIBA Chartered Practices meet the RIBA 2030 Climate Challenge targets, they will play their part in addressing this global crisis.
Find out more here: https://www.architecture.com/about/policy/climate-action/2030-climate-challenge
Sustainability Symposium
At PLACE, we have been hosting a series of Sustainability Symposiums since 2021. These are a series of lunchtime discussions where professionals within the built environment come together to discuss the real-world obstacles faced when it comes to implementing sustainability measures in the local area and even further afield.
Keep on the event page here for more information on the next symposium.
