It is arcane, complex, fragmented and hard to access and navigate – especially for the public who are, ultimately, its most important stakeholder.
(And in the future we should all be striving for packaging to be reusable, eliminating waste from packaging altogether).. A further benefit of reduced quantities and transportation of building materials is lowering the capital cost.We can achieve this through the reduction of raw materials, excavation and construction works, but also through shortened construction programme, which limits overhead and prelim costs, as well as creating a path towards more sustainable construction.. Low operational carbon.
Alongside developing the architectural design to reduce the overall building volume, we should adopt passive design measures, such as considering building orientation, using optimised facades to balance winter heat loss and summer heat gain, enhancing daylight and using natural or mixed mode ventilation.These sustainable building measures will reduce the MEP plant loads so that plant takes less space; reducing the building volume further.It will also result in reduced energy consumption in use, as well as reducing the capital cost of MEP systems.. To make sure we use the most appropriate passive sustainable design measures, we test them for optimum results using computer simulations.
This means we know far more about how a building is due to operate than we ever have before.We can fine tune the building to make it run as efficiently as possible before it is even built, making further energy cost savings..
Sustainable design and build for the circular economy.
We shouldn’t stop at lowering embodied and operational carbon when creating low carbon, sustainable buildings.The impact of the pandemic has highlighted the importance of designing for wellbeing.
While this is positive for building occupants, the lessons learned from COVID have shown that some of the design decisions taken to make buildings healthier, have implications for energy efficiency that can affect the aspiration to deliver low-carbon buildings.. Our response to the challenge is a holistic approach to sustainable design and wellbeing, with a strong focus on the use of passive design measures.We aim to give such a response to all different challenges, looking for synergies and using building physics and analytical tools to support our decisions..
The building of the future is energy efficient, but also a place with higher standards in terms of air quality, daylight and thermal experience, with a strong connection to nature.A new focus on healthy architecture will create buildings where materials are selected not just for their architectural and structural properties, but also with the potential effect on occupant health in mind..