Three key takeaways
Current planning guidance on low carbon is inconsistent, and there are too many discrepancies between carbon targets and calculations. Having universal, agreed benchmarks will help to focus minds but these shouldn’t distract from the importance of reducing carbon across the entire build process. There should be greater collaboration across industry to provide clarity on what good looks like and what works.
Building in a low carbon way isn’t easy. It can take longer and increase upfront design and construction costs, although this investment can pay dividends down the line in long-term rental yields and property values. We need to change the way we approach projects, starting supply chain conversations earlier and challenging ourselves to do things in a new way. It’s about asking different questions and not just doing things how we’ve always done them.
Wider stakeholders in development may struggle to understand the challenges, choices and sometimes, the compromises that decarbonisation can entail. Where there are questions and a lack of understanding, it’s up to industry to help provide the answers.
Review current market standards against occupier expectations – change behaviours and create adaptable buildings to suit the increasing flexible needs of occupiers.External terraces to offices are now a valuable amenity, 5+ years ago they were considered an unnecessary cost. We must continue to look at ways of reducing embodied and occupational carbon whilst still creating high quality adaptable spaces.
As an industry, the concept of this is fairly new and London is unique because it’s a first mover. We’ve all learnt a lot about embodied carbon in the past few years, and the industry has had to come to grips with it.
