For new construction, owners, developers, and investors can achieve the best low-carbon results by considering both the embodied and operational carbon impacts of their buildings and striking a balance between upfront carbon in materials and long-term efficiency returns, according to a new study by ULI. The report examines the various tradeoffs presented when these two types of carbon are considered in the design of a building’s façade and envelope.
- Record UK heat confirmed by the Met Office shifts climate extremes from anomaly to baseline, making overheating, passive cooling and flood resilience core to sustainable building design and sustainable construction. Design teams should target whole life carbon, lifecycle assessment and low carbon design as standard while delivering energy-efficient buildings, eco-design for buildings, net zero carbon buildings and net zero whole life carbon.
- Insurer modelling of roughly $450bn a year in disaster losses tightens scrutiny from underwriters and lenders. Investment cases now depend on credible whole life carbon assessment, life cycle cost, building lifecycle performance and the carbon footprint of construction, linking resilience to decarbonising the built environment and net zero carbon pathways.
- Policy volatility persists: a Prime Ministerial commitment to attend COP31 signals ongoing international engagement as opposition rhetoric against the Climate Change Act and the 2050 net zero target injects policy risk into low carbon building pipelines. Capital will price this into green construction, eco-friendly construction and carbon neutral construction strategies.
- Biodiversity Net Gain is improving planning certainty, strengthening environmental sustainability in construction and green infrastructure delivery. Clients are aligning schemes with breeam and breeam v7, advancing sustainable urban development and sustainable design while clarifying sustainable material specification.
- A landmark South Lanarkshire wind farm decommissioning achieved 99.9% reuse and recycling, proving the circular economy at industrial scale. The precedent accelerates circular economy in construction, circular construction strategies and end-of-life reuse in construction, underpinned by environmental product declarations (epds), embodied carbon in materials data, low embodied carbon materials, renewable building materials, green building materials and green building products.
- Direction of travel is clear: design for heat and water stress, build for disassembly, prioritise resource efficiency in construction and life cycle thinking in construction, verify nature gains and demand transparent reporting on embodied carbon. Planners and financiers are converting “transition plans” into conditions, pushing carbon footprint reduction, low-impact construction, sustainable building practices and sustainable architecture at every project stage while minimising the environmental impact of construction across the building lifecycle.
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