Eco-Innovators Workshop: From Materials to Low Carbon Buildings

These were among the pertinent issues discussed at Eco-Innovators Workshop: From Materials to Low Carbon Buildings, an event at AJ Retrofit Live in partnership with polymer materials producer Covestro.

At the workshop, participants considered ways in which the construction industry can move towards net zero embodied carbon in the next decade. By 2035, the UK is aiming to have reduced overall CO₂ emissions by 78 per cent compared with 1990 levels. Covestro marketing manager Fernando Resende pointed out that 97 per cent of European building stock is not efficient enough to comply with future carbon reduction targets. Covestro itself aims to be climate neutral by 2035 (Scope 1 and 2), while consistently investing in recycling and low-carbon materials solutions for industries such as construction.

Using the interactive Eigenland® method, workshop participants voted on a number of statements relating to low-carbon technology and material solutions, and end-of-life/recycling, in a future scenario of 10 years from now.

It was clear that, while participants strongly believed that architects could actively shape the future by driving sustainable building solutions today, there were misgivings. According to Mark Rowe, founder of less.eco: ‘We’re just building too much.’

‘Why don’t we build good buildings that don’t need to be knocked down?’ asked David Storring, director at Morris+Company, who also questioned the agency of architects to drive change within the industry, saying: ‘We’re part of the system, and our ability to shape within that system is perhaps limited by other professions’ ability to define sustainability in a more data-driven way.’

The current design and procurement process isn’t set up for circularity

Other participants talked about the opportunity for architects to help clients focus on sustainable approaches at a strategic level, and the benefits of working with contractors at an early stage. But there was a broad agreement that the current design and procurement process isn’t set up for circularity.

One of the general challenges in achieving more sustainable solutions, according to less.eco’s Rowe, is ‘to bring the sensibility of a smaller project to a much larger scale of project’.

On the question of whether low-carbon technologies and materials will be a key criteria for investment decisions in 2034, there was some expectation that this could be assisted by an anticipated rising importance of environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards, and increased clarity on the financial effects of climate change.

‘I think that, by 2034, we’ll be experiencing climate change in a more real way,’ said Vicki Odili, director of sustainability at tp bennett. ‘In future we’ll have to respond because there will be a lack of resources, and there will be people movement because of the climate crisis. So I’m hopeful we’ll be rallying together because it’ll be more evident.’

Both education and legislation would be needed for low-carbon approaches to move up the agenda. Jana Mingozzi, project architect at Bond Bryan, also talked about the need to keep bringing these approaches to the table and to frame them in a positive way ‘so we don’t give up before we try’.

The question of whether the industry is strongly pushing for net zero embodied carbon drew a strong reaction from Morris+Company’s Storring. He felt that separating out embodied and operational carbon had created a big problem, citing the alternative approach in Denmark – where the practice has an office – where ‘it’s just one carbon number for the impact on the planet’.

‘Embodied carbon needs a big rebrand. It needs proper messaging’

‘Embodied carbon needs a big rebrand. It needs proper messaging,’ he said.

Asked to consider a scenario where AI supports the design of building elements and checks the climate-friendly choice of materials, several participants agreed that AI could be useful.

‘I’m very interested in the potential of AI to do that job in the way that a human actor can be limited by the scale and the complexities of the data that’s available,’ said Bond Bryan interior designer James Watts, citing AI’s ability to make really complex datasets more legible.

tp bennett’s Odili said the practice was already finding AI useful for materials EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) analysis. ‘It’s so complex and difficult for people to interpret, so we’re using it to give us the information we need,’ she said.

As well as the benefits, there was awareness of the need for vigilance when using it and ‘not switching off’ according to Joanne Wilson, sustainability lead at Fletcher Priest Architects, adding that the practice used it to ‘answer very specific but complicated questions’.

Workshop participants considered whether there was a hierarchy of low-carbon footprint and recycled materials. Bond Bryan’s Watts favours rapidly regenerating bio-based materials but wouldn’t reject any low-carbon footprint materials outright.

Storring argued for circular or low-carbon recycling over use of bio materials if, in the future, there were unlimited green energy.

‘At the point we get unlimited green energy through fusion, the whole thing shifts. And I wouldn’t want to cut down a single tree after that,’ he said.

There was agreement that fundamental change is needed in order to reach the imagined 2034 scenario of a central material register to enable everybody to reuse construction materials.

‘A system change needs to happen to enable re-use of materials’

‘A system change needs to happen to enable re-use of materials,’ said Caterina Mangia, head of sustainable design at David Chipperfield Architects.

Bond Bryan’s Watts felt that procurement process needed to change in order for circular practices to take off. There also needs to be more onus on material producers rather than end-users to take a lifetime responsibility for products, and bring them back to market, according to Storring.

It’s clear that achieving climate-neutral construction by 2034 will be a tall order. Asked if they already know many of the solutions that will be required, it was felt that such a scenario requires ‘a shift quite beyond what industry as a whole is capable of,’ according to Wilson. Participants, however, are clearly up for the challenge.

Supported by Covestro

Covestro is equally committed to driving the transition towards climate neutrality. By focusing on four key pillars – climate neutrality, alternative raw materials, innovative recycling and joint solutions – Covestro is actively paving the way towards a sustainable future in the construction sector. To learn more about their solutions, explore the Better Buildings Hub: Sustainable building solutions for a better future | Covestro AG