Burrell Foley Fischer have added their support to an initiative to encourage the introduction of regulation of embodied carbon in the construction industry.
Due to the significant contribution that the embodied carbon of buildings makes to the climate emergency, there is a need to introduce legislation towards mandatory reporting of carbon emissions in the built environment, along with limiting embodied carbon emissions on projects. A proposed amendment to The Building Regulations 2010, ‘Part Z’, has been suggested as a vehicle for introducing suitable obligations.
John Burrell said,
“Burrell Foley Fischer fully supports the principle of ensuring that embodied carbon is assessed on all major construction projects. We believe that such consideration would, for example, encourage the repurposing and reuse of many more existing buildings; something which could be a major contributor to reducing the carbon footprint of our industry.
We welcome this proposal to introduce mandatory assessments ahead of setting carbon limits, giving time to converge on robust yet ambitious targets, and believe it would assist in accelerating the voluntary action that many of us are already taking.”
Support for the principle of embodied carbon regulation has come from across the industry including many architectural and engineering firms, together with organisations such as the Royal Institute of British Architects.
Will Arnold, the Head of Climate Action at the Institution of Structural Engineers, explains the need for embodied carbon regulation
“Buildings and construction form a substantial portion of UK carbon emissions. They contribute both operational carbon emissions (due to energy and water use), and embodied carbon emissions (due to the use of construction materials).
For a long time, operational carbon has made up the majority of most buildings’ emissions. However this has changed over the last couple of decades as more of our energy has come from renewables, a trend set to continue and likely to see operational carbon drop to zero within a couple of decades.
Alongside decarbonising the grid, we have seen emissions limits regularly tightened in Part L, architects and engineers designing more energy-efficient buildings, and manufacturers investing in producing more energy-efficient components.
However for embodied carbon we have stalled. Project focusses have typically been on reducing cost and time, rather than reducing material use. As such, in a well-designed low-energy building, embodied carbon emissions now make up more than half of the total carbon emitted across the building’s expected lifetime.”
The Part Z authors came together to develop a proposal for amendments to the Building Regulations that could be used to mandate the reporting and limiting of carbon emissions. They have written Part Z and its accompanying Approved Document Z as a proof of concept of the regulation that’s needed in the UK. If enacted, Part Z would ensure that embodied carbon is assessed on all projects, as part of a comprehensive whole life carbon assessment.
It would also ensure that the embodied carbon emissions are then capped on all major construction projects - initially through limits on upfront embodied carbon, but over time expanding to cover all aspects of embodied carbon.
Approved Document Z is aligned with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Professional Statement ‘Whole life carbon assessment for the built environment’, and guidance and recommendations made by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), the Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE), the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE), the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) and the London Energy Transformation Initiative (LETI).
Further details of the initiative can be found here.