'The greenest buildings already exist:' Insights from our decarbonisation roundtable event in Birmingham

The built environment is evolving rapidly as we strive to meet ambitious decarbonisation goals. Yet, amid these changes, it’s becoming increasingly clear that buildings must do more than just meet energy efficiency standards—they must foster occupant health and wellbeing.

Through insightful conversation, we explored the different methodologies we can use when creating healthier buildings and how we can apply these principles across all sectors.

Read on to discover more insights from the event.

The launch of the UK Net Zero Carbon Building (UKNZC) Standard’s pilot version is a game-changer in the industry’s decarbonisation efforts. For the first time, the fragmented landscape of carbon metrics is being unified. This will significantly enhance our industry’s ability to compare and measure operational and embodied carbon across over various sectors like commercial, residential, education and healthcare.

A key highlight of the new standard is its verification service, which attendees widely welcomed. This service ensures that buildings not only set carbon reduction targets but actually meet them. The clarity provided by the standard is a significant step forward, particularly when past guidelines lacked the necessary detail for professionals to confidently apply performance standards to their specific projects.

One notable example discussed was our new Grade A office building, Hemisphere, combining office and lab space. Under the new standards, buildings like this can be measured accordingly, ensuring energy use is managed efficiently in spaces that demand more resources.

The UKNZC Standard’s tailored approach for different building types, such as hospitals and domestic dwellings, was praised for allowing more accurate performance benchmarking.

While the need for energy efficiency is undeniable, the importance of occupant wellbeing in building design was emphasised throughout the event. Post-occupancy evaluations and studies of user behaviour are crucial for understanding how spaces are used and where further optimisations can be made.

Discussions around user sentiment revealed a growing awareness of the ‘brown discount’ versus the ‘green premium,’ which refers to how occupiers value sustainable buildings. Health, wellbeing and biophilic design were seen as intrinsic to the conversation, broadening the scope from simply reducing carbon footprints to creating holistic environments that promote wellness.

One compelling case study was The Spine, considered one of the world’s healthiest buildings. By incorporating WELL Standard principles, such as high air quality and optimal lighting, the design of The Spine offers a blueprint for how future projects can balance energy performance with occupant health.

Learn more about the project here.

The conversation also expanded to encompass not just individual buildings but the spaces between them, emphasising sustainable infrastructure, travel and how these elements work together to create healthier urban environments.

Another critical theme was the importance of retrofitting existing buildings, which was described as a more sustainable approach than constructing new ones. One participant noted that “it can take decades for new builds to offset their upfront carbon costs,” while retrofitting focuses on improving what we already have, leading to lower embodied carbon and faster carbon paybacks.

The industry now has several tools to aid decision-making in this area, technologies that provide quick and effective ways to assess the potential for retrofitting buildings.

Our retrofit toolkit can be used on an individual building basis or scaled up to consider multiple assets across an entire estate. This will help you choose which interventions would be most beneficial to you using a balance of capital cost, energy savings, payback, embodied carbon and more. Learn more.

As buildings become more complex, incorporating advanced technologies such as AI to optimise energy use, there is a growing demand for professionals equipped to manage these systems. However, the industry is facing a significant skills shortage, which poses a major hurdle to achieving net zero targets.

Similarly to previous events, attendees voiced concerns about the workforce’s readiness to operate in an increasingly sophisticated building landscape. One participant remarked, ‘We have these cutting-edge technologies, but not enough people who are trained to operate and maintain them.’

There was a clear call for more education and training to ensure the workforce is prepared to handle the challenges posed by energy-efficient and AI-driven buildings. This message was particularly relevant to Facilities Management teams, as the increased complexity of modern technology and equipment requires a different skill set than what has traditionally been demanded in construction.

Bringing these professionals on board from the outset and investing in their training is critical to ensuring they are equipped to manage the sophisticated systems that power today’s sustainable buildings.

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