Jose Hernandez is director of sustainability and energy at the consultancy Pick Everard
The climate agenda continues to be a focus for the construction industry, marking one of the biggest challenges the sector has ever faced. Twenty-five per cent of the UK’s emissions are directly attributable to the built environment and we are reaching a critical point: the next 10 years will be decisive in meeting the targets. So is the hourglass dry?
Each passing day brings us closer to zero hour. Time certainly passes and delay has a double cost.
“Having a single net-zero construction standard reflects a broader collective drive to make a difference”
The first is the figurative cost of irreparable damage to the environment, which will have major implications for the way we live and inhabit the planet. In fact, we are already on the verge of some parts of the world being uninhabitable for humans, and without getting to zero as soon as possible, that risk will only increase.
Second, there is the financial cost to consider, especially for asset owners. To put it simply, it won’t be long before the cost of not decarbonizing exceeds the capital investment of decarbonizing in the first place. Changes to the minimum energy efficiency standard in April already mean landlords cannot rent non-domestic properties with an energy performance certificate rating worse than E without legislative exemptions.
It is fair to say that we will see more changes in this way in the coming years, which relates to the increased risk of stranded assets – those that can no longer be used for compliance purposes or are no longer classified as insurable Companies with large property portfolios are naturally at higher risk of this and need to be ahead of the decarbonisation curve.
Early involvement
All of this is fueling the resurgence of retrofitting and repurposing in recent years, and has seen businesses and organizations of all types and sizes making statements about climate change.
The most important point of all remains the first step: establish sustainability goals with the client and design team from the start of the work, and carry that thread through. But this must also encapsulate the early involvement of the contractor.
As well as being best practice as outlined in the Government Construction Manual Guide, early contractor involvement ensures that the careful balance of purpose, budget and stakeholder expectations can be delivered without compromise, eliminating embodied carbon results as far as possible and prioritizing realistic sustainability. measures and objectives at each stage.
Nineteen per cent of the UK’s carbon footprint is attributable to the operational demands of powering, heating and cooling our buildings, so energy strategies must be part of the equation to ensure a net zero asset in the future And we need to ensure that the move away from fossil fuels does not depend solely on the electricity grid, with multiple sources and storage having to be designed into the delivery of the schemes.
Clearer path forward
A big step is identifying what exactly it means for a building to be “net zero.” This has been a bit of a gray area, but it is becoming clearer with the UK Green Building Council bringing together leading organizations to create Britain’s first. Zero net carbon building standard.
This standard sets out metrics by which net zero carbon performance is assessed, along with performance targets or limits that must be met. Having a single standard that provides a clear definition of net zero buildings reflects a broader collective drive to make a difference. Crucially, it will provide consistency, level the measurement playing field and allow the industry to robustly verify that assets are net zero and in line with climate targets.
As we approach this “zero hour” point, the positive is that we are already on the way. The UK government put us at the forefront of the call for global climate action by being the first in the world to set the 2050 net zero target.
Indeed, many organizations and local authorities reflect the urgency to achieve net zero as soon as possible, setting targets closer to the next decade. We are on the way, but action is needed without delay and government funding is required to drive momentum towards challenging collective deadlines.
