Demographic change in 🌍 Europe is increasingly becoming a major challenge,...

EU Environment and Planet 2 years ago

Demographic change in 🌍 Europe is increasingly becoming a major challenge, particularly the depopulation of 🌾 rural areas. Factors such as urbanisation, emigration from underdeveloped regions, and the desire for a more comfortable life in the city is leading to more and more empty villages and unused valuable space.   🇮🇹 A perfect example of this is found in Topolò. At the beginning of the 20th century, the village at the Italian/Slovenian border had 400 inhabitants. Today it only counts 23. Yet, a group of former residents decided to change this.   💡A new project was born: The “Village as a House” gives Topolò a new meaning and turns it into a home of the local community. This 2022 🇪🇺 #NewEuropeanBauhaus Prizes Winner encourages the use of shared spaces such as a communal living room with a shared library, a versatile kitchen that transforms into a restaurant, and the repurposing of an unused structure into a dynamic laboratory. Meanwhile, individual spaces still offer sufficient privacy.   🙋 Initiatives like the “Village as a House” serve as powerful example of how abandoned spaces can be given new uses, a strong sense of community, and introduce people to innovative forms of living. This example is particularly valuable for the reconstruction of 🇺🇦 Ukraine, which has seen an enormous displacement of people due to the atrocious war.   🏡 The “Village as a House” can inspire and empower Ukraine in its journey toward a resilient reconstruction. On 28-29 November 2023, we are joining the 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 “Ukraine Green Recovery Conference” in Vilnius to discuss further how the New European Bauhaus can support the green reconstruction of Ukraine.    Register today and join the online sessions 👉 link in bio   #EUGreenDeal #StandWithUkraine #Sustainability #LIFEProgramme #SustainableArchitecture #CircularEconomy #UrbanDesign   📷 ©Associazione Robida, 2022. Content licensed to the European Union.

layersDaily Sustainability Digest

Published about 5 hours ago



The centre of gravity in sustainable construction has transitioned from intention to execution. The newly enacted Planning and Infrastructure Act establishes a Nature Restoration Fund to balance ecological impacts from development. This aligns environmental sustainability in construction with legal accountability, driving developers to integrate eco-design for buildings, sustainable building practices, and nature-positive design verified through Whole Life Carbon Assessment and lifecycle assessment. Firms must now quantify embodied carbon and demonstrate measurable reductions in the carbon footprint of construction, embedding life cycle thinking in construction at design stage to secure consent.

Infrastructure financing is reinforcing this shift. The National Wealth Fund’s guarantee for grid upgrades in northern Scotland will enable connection of renewables and electrification of heat and transport. These investments support low carbon design and net zero whole life carbon delivery, where contractors must combine engineering capability with green infrastructure stewardship and community trust. The challenge extends to the life cycle cost of energy networks, which must reflect resource efficiency in construction and alignment with the circular economy.

The Midlands Rail Hub Alliance formalises a model of integrated design and delivery for low-carbon transport infrastructure. Its approach exemplifies how decarbonising the built environment depends on sustainable building design principles applied to large-scale civil assets. Whole Life Carbon and embodied carbon in materials will govern procurement as clients adopt BREEAM v7 and environmental product declarations (EPDs) to measure the environmental impact of construction.

Private demand is converging with public policy. A long-term power purchase between a water utility and an onshore wind developer to supply 132 GWh annually demonstrates how major operators embed renewable building materials, circular construction strategies, and carbon footprint reduction within operations. The result is a maturing market for low carbon building solutions compliant with net zero carbon buildings and consistent building lifecycle performance.

Firms investing in sustainable material specification, low embodied carbon materials, and carbon neutral construction will gain advantage in a sector where carbon, capacity and consent define competitiveness. The transformation of planning, grid resilience and rail delivery represents the practical expression of sustainable design, positioning the UK as a testbed for eco-friendly construction and scalable net zero carbon strategies that underpin sustainable urban development.

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