Initiating A Green Recovery: How Can Development Contribute?

The built environment is widely recognised as one of the biggest contributors to the UK’s carbon footprint, at around 40% of overall emissions. This is split between the carbon/energy required to build the buildings, and the carbon/energy used to operate the buildings. Furthermore, with the pandemic re-emphasising our reliance on green space, it’s now more important than ever that we build back better, greener environments that ensure the occupants of our future cities can live healthy, balanced lives. By Oliver Lowrie, director and co-founder of Ackroyd Lowrie

Whilst there is the long-term European target to be net zero carbon by 2050, there are other, more pressing goals to achieve in the short term. To prepare for the 2025 Future Homes Standard (FHS), the government announced there is now an expectation for all new homes constructed from this year onwards to produce 30% more energy efficiency. But how is all this achievable and how do we make it easier to be green?

Initially, we encourage a fabric first approach. This means ensuring all buildings we produce are well-insulated and have decent quality glazing. Developers and builders are going to see more attention paid to minimising cold bridging and making airtight envelopes to control air leakage. Then, we can switch to fully electrical heating and hot water systems.

The UK’s National Grid has been rapidly decarbonising over the past two decades as coal power stations have been replaced by nuclear and renewable power sources. Over the past ten years this decarbonisation has happened at twice the rate of other major economies*, which should not only be a cause for celebration but also a reason to rely on electricity to fully power the homes of the future. The government has confirmed plans to ban fossil fuel heating systems in new homes by 2025, such as gas boilers, so this change to electric is coming down the road in any case.  

Many local authority planning departments are already pre-empting the level of energy efficiency that will come into force with the 2025 FHS. We commonly receive planning conditions on our consents that require a 30% improvement on Part L of the Building Regulations. To achieve these levels of energy reduction is impossible without some element of on-site renewable technology. Whilst the optimum technology must be chosen on a site-by-site basis, photovoltaic solar panels are generally the most cost-effective method of providing this as long as there is sufficient roof space.

The Green Lungs of Clapham Road’s Zero Carbon Target Hotel

If this is not the case, then individual Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHP) for each unit to heat the hot water, alongside electric panel heaters for space heating is generally the next cheapest option. However, ASHPs also require ducting, plant, and condensers to be incorporated so they do present additional cost. The most efficient method of renewable technology, Ground Source Heat Pumps, comes at the highest cost so on most sites the payback is too long to consider as viable.

This being said, one of our current projects is a hotel on London’s Clapham Road. Here, the developer is implementing several strategies to target zero carbon operational energy, but an interesting result from our analysis of the energy load was that hot water is a major source due to everyone showering at similar times of day. A ground source heat pump was identified as the best technology to meet this supply and greatly reduce the energy requirement, so these can prove hugely effective in the right context.

As well as focusing on meeting the increasingly ambitious energy efficiency targets that the government is rolling out, we need to look at improving our understanding of the environments where we’re living and working. Basic principles like orientation, access to daylight, safer and healthier movement, and reduced noise all impact a development’s overall sustainability.

One of the ways we’re achieving this understanding, and a route I strongly advocate, is through virtual reality (VR) technology. VR is a fantastic tool which is widely underused in our industry. It helps understand the functionality of a space, the context and relation to surroundings, enables modelling in extreme detail and informs material choices and finishes. VR can better educate us all about a building’s lifecycle and I genuinely believe it should become a mandatory process on development, especially at pre-planning stage. 

Focusing on sustainability in the built environment used to be the preserve of the woolly-jumpered hippy. However, COVID has served as a wake-up call and reminded us all of the fragility of the ‘business as usual’ approach to our society. Achieving a greener future is now not only a government requirement but should also be seen as an aspirational value for a developer to promote.

In a different sector, Tesla has packaged environmental efficiency, great design, a renewable electric power source, and smart technology in a consumer product that is aspirational enough to demand a higher price point than the equivalent petrol vehicle. Developers would be smart to look at this precedent and apply it to the property industry. Highly efficient, smart homes that provide high-quality living will command a premium and define the future of our cities.”

Oliver Lowrie is a director and co-founder of Ackroyd Lowrie, an East-London based architectural practice which was recently highly commended in the 2021 AJ Retrofit Awards.

*Source: BioEnergy News, November 2020 https://www.bioenergy-news.com/news/uks-electricity-grid-has-decarbonised-faster-than-other-countries-says-report/