The
twin crises of climate breakdown and biodiversity loss are the most serious
issue of our time. Buildings and construction play a major part, accounting for
nearly 40% of energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions whilst also having
a significant impact on our natural habitats.
For
everyone working in the construction industry, meeting the needs of our society
without breaching the earth’s ecological boundaries will demand a paradigm
shift in our behaviour. Together with our clients, we will need to commission
and design buildings, cities and infrastructures as indivisible components of a
larger, constantly regenerating and self-sustaining system.
The
research and technology exist for us to begin that transformation now, but what
has been lacking is collective will. Recognising this, we are committing to
strengthen our working practices to create architecture and urbanism that has a
more positive impact on the world around us.
We
will seek to:
- Raise
awareness of the climate and biodiversity emergencies and the urgent need for
action amongst our clients and supply chains.
- Advocate for
faster change in our industry towards regenerative design practices and a
higher Governmental funding priority to support this.
- Establish
climate and biodiversity mitigation principles as the key measure of our
industry’s success: demonstrated through awards, prizes and listings.
- Share
knowledge and research to that end on an open source basis.
- Evaluate all
new projects against the aspiration to contribute positively to mitigating
climate breakdown, and encourage our clients to adopt this approach.
- Upgrade
existing buildings for extended use as a more carbon efficient alternative to
demolition and new build whenever there is a viable choice.
- Include life
cycle costing, whole life carbon modelling and post occupancy evaluation as
part of our basic scope of work, to reduce both embodied and operational
resource use.
- Adopt more
regenerative design principles in our studios, with the aim of designing
architecture and urbanism that goes beyond the standard of net zero carbon in
use.
- Collaborate
with engineers, contractors and clients to further reduce construction waste.
- Accelerate
the shift to low embodied carbon materials in all our work.
- Minimise
wasteful use of resources in architecture and urban planning, both in quantum
and in detail.