‘As we transition away from fossil fuels, we're not going to leave the community behind:’ Insights from Leeds

With the recent change in government, there is a renewed drive to achieve ambitious sustainability targets. And amidst this shift, it’s clear that there’s a growing recognition that buildings must prioritise peoples’ wellbeing as well as energy efficiency.

Our discussion emphasised how collaboration and creative thinking are essential to making significant progress in decarbonisation, positively impacting both current and future generations.

Continue reading to discover key takeaways from the event.

One of the primary takeaways from the roundtable was the strong focus on the new UK government’s need to act swiftly to deliver its ambitious clean energy goals. It is heartening that the new government has prioritised its mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower, though it must act quickly to deliver meaningful results and maintain public trust.

Another key point was the critical need to reduce people’s exposure to fluctuating energy prices. With energy prices rising, increasing government support is not a sustainable solution. Instead, the focus should be on improving energy efficiency solutions to reduce reliance on the energy market, providing a more effective, long term solution.

Our discussion underscored that decarbonisation is not just a goal but a crucial, strategic imperative across the property and construction industries. The need for sector-wide efforts to reduce carbon emissions was highlighted, focusing on both new builds and the refurbishment of existing building stock.

The importance of post-occupancy evaluations (POEs) was raised, which can massively help to reduce energy consumption, especially when landlords and tenants don’t fully understand how to operate the buildings effectively. Without this understanding, buildings often underperform. By getting back into buildings and analysing energy consumption and operational practices, performance can be optimised, significantly reducing consumption in many instances.

We discussed how simply adhering to off-the-shelf design details can often result in inefficiencies. Through sharing our lessons learned and experiences, we can create more effective and efficient solutions each time, bespoke to our clients’ needs and responsive to site requirements. We can harness the potential of Artificial Intelligence, to optimise the performance of our buildings and drive further energy efficiencies. One participant highlighted how many buildings could be designed more leanly, particularly regarding MEP systems and materials. This approach can still meet performance criteria while reducing the amount of embodied carbon in the building and fit-out.

We can also use tools like the newly developed pilot version of UK Net Zero Carbon Standard, to give us clear, tangible targets to work towards in achieving our sustainability goals. While the pilot Standard was applauded for unifying sustainability standards, it was noted that this pilot still has areas to improve, especially in terms of addressing the skills gap needed to deliver on ambitious climate goals.

We knew that when we designed the UK’s largest Passivhaus education building, we needed to take a tailored approach, as Passivhaus design had not previously been implemented on a project of this scale in the UK. By conducting our own 3D thermal bridge analysis, we realised that in removing some unnecessary insulation, we could still achieve stringent air standards, whilst saving both time and resources.

Find out more lessons learned on this project in our thought leadership piece.

With professionals from all areas of the property and construction industries, the conversation consistently returned to the need for greater collaboration to drive meaningful change. To influence change and ingrain sustainability at every level, there needs to be an alignment between public and private sectors, supported by policy frameworks.

It was highlighted how open discussions can resolve conflicts early in the process, fostering better outcomes and reducing inefficiencies often seen in design-and-build contracts. Direct lines of communication between the whole project team offers practical and feasible solutions to construction challenges and together we can refine details, ensuring both buildability and performance.

The conversation also explored the regional disparities in sustainability leadership, pointing to the need for a more consistent national decarbonisation strategy. Collaboration between the public and private sectors is imperative to moving sustainability initiatives forward.

Continuous dialogue between these sectors is necessary to align decarbonisation efforts with both government policy and market demands. Through funding and investment, there is growing importance on the private sector in our collective journey towards sustainability. And public-private sector partnerships are key to overcoming the financial and technological challenges presented.

We touched upon the delicate balance between creativity and adherence to established building standards, in creating sustainable buildings with design quality at the forefront. Although certifications and standards such as Passivhaus and NABERS, can provide quality assurance, we should use these as a complementary part of our design approach, alongside innovation and imagination, to continually push boundaries and improve building performance. By conducting POEs and digital twin technology we can measure and refine the real-world effectiveness of new designs.

The Spine, a notable example, was highlighted for its exceptionally low CO2 levels, resulting in a great improvement in cognitive function for occupants due to the fresh air in the building. Additionally, its advanced filtration systems significantly reduce the spread of airborne viruses, contributing to both energy efficiency and healthier indoor environments.

Learn more about project’s role in balancing sustainability and occupant wellbeing through innovation here.

Participants also highlighted that while there is a strong focus on encouraging sustainable, high-quality construction, the lack of consistent national policy on energy efficiency creates challenges for local planning authorities. Despite these hurdles, we are seeing commitment from councils to push these boundaries and develop innovative approaches to decarbonisation.

When retrofitting and refurbishing existing building stock, there are often challenges associated with making outdated technology and inefficient systems fit for a modern purpose. In addition to this, often there is a need to balance regulatory requirements and ambitious sustainability goals, which were not in place when the buildings were originally designed. Nonetheless, with new technologies and innovations, the increased use of data to drive efficiencies and widely sharing our findings, there are promising pathways forward.

To learn more about how we are achieving decarbonisation through retrofit, visit our perspectives page here.