Guiding the way to Net Zero

New Guide to Building Materials and the Environment helps built environment professionals pave the way to Net Zero Carbon future

A new and completely revised edition of the RIBA award-winning Guide to Building Materials and the Environment has been launched by AJ100 architecture practice Stephen George + Partners in collaboration with the GreenSpec website in response to the building industry’s push towards Net Zero Carbon and the perceived lack of clear, independent, rational information on how to achieve it.  

Authored by Chris Halligan, Senior Chartered Architectural Technologist at Norse Consulting, the latest and extensively re-written edition of the Guide is available free of charge and provides built environment professionals, self-builders and interested students with a transparently sourced, consistent and fully explained road map to various material options, from the traditional to the cutting-edge, and lays out how sustainable some “green” materials really are in their production, use and eventual disposal.

The push for Net Zero Carbon has seen increased momentum in the last few years with governments, companies and individuals looking to find ways to reduce their carbon footprint, reduce carbon emissions and keep global warming to 1.5˚ C or below. When it comes to Net Zero Carbon buildings, the focus from the industry has primarily been on reducing operational energy, mainly from heating, cooling and electricity use.

However, in the UK, the operation of buildings accounts for around 30 per cent of emissions, whilst the embodied emissions from construction can account for up to half of the carbon impacts associated with the building over its lifecycle. Some 11% of global carbon emissions stem from the extraction, manufacture and transport of the materials used in the building3. This embodied carbon, sometimes known as “upfront carbon” as it contains carbon emitted before the building is ever operational, needs to be a target for architects and specifiers in the design and delivery of new projects.

Says Chris Halligan MCIAT, co-creator of the original guide and author of the new, completely revised edition: “While Net Zero forms the backbone of UK Government climate policy, there is still no UK legislation covering the embodied carbon or general sustainability of materials. Most of the focus continues to be on operational energy. This does not mean it isn’t being addressed by the industry, but the lack of information and the often spurious sustainable credentials of materials by unscrupulous marketeers can make the process difficult to navigate.

“The only way to steer a successful course is knowledge. Hence the need for this newly updated version of the Guide to Building Materials and the Environment. Without truly understanding the impact of our actions, through an intelligent selection of materials which will not damage the environment, can we ever hope to achieve the sustainable solutions rapidly proving to be essential”

SusCon, Dartford, a sustainable construction training and research centre, designed and delivered by Stephen George + Partners

The new edition of the Guide has seen almost all the original materials re-assessed. The construction industry has changed significantly in the thirteen years since the original Guide was published, with some of the materials that were expected to have a great future failing to make a mark and new materials – and new ways of making old materials – coming into the spotlight.

You can read more about the Guide in Specification Magazine HERE

To download a free copy of the Guide to Building Materials and the Environment, please visit: https://www.stephengeorge.co.uk/a-guide-to-building-materials-and-the-environment/