The future of the built environment after COP26

COP26 may be over, but the UK’s year-long COP presidency has just begun. Chris Jenkins, Director at Swansea-based ECA Member EFT Consult, was at Glasgow for the conference in November. In today’s blog, Chris shares his insights and thoughts on how to keep up the low carbon momentum in 2022 and beyond.

Glasgow’s hosting of COP26 is over and, I believe, has left all of us who attended with a lot to consider and almost certainly a mixture of emotions. Some of these are very hopeful and inspiring, and some of them reinforce the urgency and difficulty of the task that lies ahead – towards carbon neutrality and mitigating the effects of climate change. 

Learn about how your business can start working towards delivering Net Zero, with ECA’s Green Pivot guide. Download it here.

Thanks to the ECA, I had the pleasure of attending an event at the conference hosted by the Construction Leadership Council. 

The event was titled ‘Construction: The Built Environment’ with the main focus being on how the construction sector accounts for 38% of global carbon emissions, and how the Construction Leadership Council’s Construct Zero industry change programme is targeting the most impactful actions to mitigate this.  

The push is on for more joined up thinking within the construction industry

Together, those who have signed up to the Construct Zero initiative are leading the industry’s charge to meet the Prime Minister’s 2050 Net Zero target. Here at EFT Consult, we are we are very proud that our sister company, RDM Electrical & Mechanical Services, is representing our group of companies, RD Group, as a Construct Zero Business Champion.

The event featured several speakers: Andy Mitchell CBE, Sarah Linnell, Michelle Agha-Hossein (representing Actuate UK ), Stephen Hodder, Mike Chaldecott, Richard Robinson, Darren James, Lara Young and Hannah Vickers – all highly experienced and talented in their own fields within the construction sector. After speaking, they took to the stage together to answer questions.

The main thrust of the event covered the importance of building in sustainability and carbon neutrality (as far as possible) right from the start of any construction project. But it was noted, none of this comes without challenges. For instance, demolishing old buildings and starting from scratch can be hugely carbon inefficient. 

It is, therefore, vital that innovative thinking should be employed before a plan has even been drawn up, and this may include deciding whether retrofitting the existing structure for energy efficiency is a preferable solution, or whether a modular approach to a new build should be used. 

The event covered many of the innovative projects taking place across the UK, giving considerable insight into how a sustainability-first approach can reap rewards, not just for the environment but also for the occupants of the structures being built, as well as cost savings for the organisations who own and use them.

It’s good to know then, that the push is on for more joined up thinking within the construction industry, with sustainability being the de facto, go-to consideration before other factors come in to play. 

It was also inspiring to see the solutions and initiatives already being undertaken to tackle the climate emergency, with the combined power of industry and government coming together to meet the challenge. Only by working collaboratively can the construction industry do its bit in helping us all achieve net zero by 2050.

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