It’s time for ‘whole system thinking’
March 2008
The real danger of the zero carbon agenda that has gripped the UK’s property sector is that it is too narrow. It ignores social and economic sustainability and consequently could result in highly perverse outcomes.
That’s why I’m calling for an urgent reality check and a change towards what we call ‘whole system thinking’.
Don’t get me wrong - I am a strong supporter of zero and low carbon buildings. The drive towards zero carbon is very important. It has had a powerful effect in galvanising the design, planning and development community and in stimulating innovation.
But there is also much more to delivering exemplary built environments than zero carbon. For example, if we focus just on reducing energy use but these buildings end up uneconomic to maintain, are built on flood plains, overheat in summer, have poor acoustic performance, poor indoor air quality or other unintended consequences, then we have created a generation of buildings that are unfit for people. We can’t call this sustainability.
So what should developers and their design teams be doing to ensure genuine sustainability?
In essence, it’s about adopting a holistic approach. We need whole system thinking. This means collaborative, multi-disciplinary, integrated team working like we’ve rarely seen before.
For example, when Inbuilt works with developers we are involved from day one, often collaborating with the client, the local community, the architects, planners, building control authority, subcontractors, energy suppliers and the entire supply chain.
Together we can find solutions that address and resolve multiple problems and issues simultaneously. We save money and time.
We also work together to find natural solutions to reduce our dependence on energy-intensive systems. There are so many opportunities offered by nature to ventilate, heat, cool and illuminate our buildings, and cost savings to be made by designing out unnecessary technical complexity.
In this way, we create buildings and whole communities that are ultra-low carbon, often incorporating renewable technologies which are correctly sited, cost effective and reliable, including the optimised use of passive renewables.
Finally, in my view we also need to keep reminding Government that this issue is not just about new build.
In 2006 the Sustainable Development Commission reported that older homes represent around 99% of our total housing stock. Despite the Government’s targets for increased new build it is estimated that around 80% of the current residential stock will still be in use by 2050. It’s a similar picture in the commercial property sector. So it’s clear that the vast majority of carbon savings need to be achieved in the existing stock.
We need to avoid being distracted from the vital challenges of reducing carbon emissions from the existing building stock, and of securing investment and planning permission for large scale renewable energy systems. In terms of pounds sterling invested per tonne of carbon saved, both of these objectives will provide a much greater and faster return than making all new buildings ‘zero carbon’.
Contact
Dr David Strong, Chief Executive, Inbuilt
Tel. +44 (0)1923 277000
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