The current opportunity for transformation and progress in construction has arrived at a critical time..
Low embodied carbon.Low operational carbon..
Between them, there is also an often unspoken common denominator which Bryden Wood have explored.Put simply: if we build less, we emit less carbon.. Low embodied carbon and the future of sustainable design.It’s generally understood that changing material specification can help reduce embodied carbon and create a more sustainable design and build process.
What is often not mentioned is that we can also achieve reduced embodied carbon and capital cost through optimisation and reducing the volume of building, and the earlier this is considered the bigger the carbon savings.. Bryden Wood have demonstrated that through optimising architectural layouts, we can produce higher net to gross ratio space.We do this by enhancing circulation and ancillary spaces and providing more useful, flexible space.
With the reduction in internal floor area, there is less space to be conditioned with expensive MEP systems, less structure and less external envelope.
This sustainable design process is incredibly effective..These takeaways highlight Lucy Homer's insights into the transformative strategies at Lendlease, the evolving role of architects, and the future direction of the construction industry towards greater sustainability and digital integration.. Find out more about out approach to.
building sustainably hereThe difficulties in articulating and quantifying the essence of good design and its wider benefits to society have meant that design is often undervalued, both in the procurement of new development and in the planning decision-making process.As a result, large urban developments often fail to meet the aspirations of policymakers.
Architects have also been reluctant to focus conversations on the economic merits of their schemes, or the political issues behind them, instead focusing their descriptions and appraisals of work in mainly aesthetic terms.This has meant the discussion misses key challenges regarding what schemes are providing, or lacking, in terms of the economic and social value in architecture.. Part of the difficulty in embedding this design quality throughout the design process may be a result of the fragmentation of projects into stages, and the atomisation of roles in recent decades.