I get a lot of press releases sent to me, few of which I use as the basis for articles. In the context of the Paris talks and the current focus on climate change as a consequence of the floods, I thought this was worth publishing (unedited). Perhaps particularly pertinent in the light of the Quintain developments around Wembley Stadium.
A team of
experts at leading environmental engineering firm Max Fordham have compiled a
list of their predictions for the coming year, with a focus on reducing energy
consumption and ensuring that building designers put the health and wellbeing
of the people who use that building first.
The full
list of Max Fordham’s predictions is as follows:
Infrastructure-scale solutions to climate change
Governments will be forced to tackle
the problems caused by climate change by introducing infrastructure-scale
solutions. Hopefully these will give way to exciting examples of urban design,
such as the $335 million scheme to upgrade Lower Manhattan’s storm defences.
A “Trip Advisor” for buildings
The development of a ‘Trip Advisor’
for buildings and building comfort. Users will be able to rate office, retail
and hospitality buildings on a number of criteria such as temperature,
daylight, acoustics and ventilation that will then be fed back into the
building management systems for efficiency based on big data. Enabling consumer
pressure to drive improved performance.
More plants on buildings
The increased use of living roofs on
commercial and domestic buildings, and an increased awareness of the role
buildings can play in maintaining biodiversity.
Global harm tax on fossil fuels
The introduction of a global harm
tax on both the extraction and use of fossil fuels which makes visible the
damage caused by these sources of energy and also encourages the development of
alternative forms of energy production.
Population control
The need for action on global
population growth will be addressed by ensuring universal access to
contraception. This will provide positive impacts in terms of both economic
growth and public health.
Wider awareness of carbon impact of
construction
In design and client teams, we’ll
see a wider appreciation and understanding of embodied energy and the total
carbon impact of the construction process.
In-building energy storage
The development of In-building
energy storage systems or daily heat stores to spread the peak energy demand of
a building over a day.
Energy Performance Contracts become the norm
Energy Performance Contracts become
expected for more new builds. Better prediction of actual energy consumption
and then having to deliver on this in practice. It will put a much better focus
on the way we design and the way we build.
Death of “tick box” sustainability
The death of BREEAM and ‘tick-box’
sustainability with a move to a more appropriate choice. We will see an even
greater rise in the employment of sustainability matrices such as the one
developed by Max Fordham.
Greater recognition of the impact buildings
have on health
Comfort, health and well-being will
become a much larger part of considerations when designing and building
non-residential, commercial lettings.
The predictions were assembled by the team including engineers Thomas Greenhill
and John Gunstone, sustainability consultant Elinor Huggett, and Phil Armitage
and Guy Nevill, both Senior Partners at the Practice.
The predictions include the development of a kind of “Trip Advisor” for
buildings, where users rate how comfortable they are in terms of temperature
and acoustics, which is then fed back into the building management system.
Large scale infrastructure projects will become necessary to combat the
effects of climate change and to avoid a repeat of the flooding recently seen
in the north of the country.
A global “harm tax” should be introduced on both the extraction and use
of fossil fuels to make visible the damage caused by these sources of energy
and also encourage the development of alternative forms of energy production.
Earlier in December this year, leaders from every country agreed to
limit the rise in global temperatures to less than 2C. Currently, around half
of the UK’s energy consumption is used in the heating of buildings and so
developing more sophisticated and efficient insulation systems and reducing the
amount of energy used in construction could play a key role in ensuring the UK
meets its targets.
Guy Nevill, said: “While the COP21 agreement is a tremendously positive
step, we still have lots of work to do in terms of reducing our carbon
emissions, as well as building schemes to protect ourselves from the inevitable
consequences of climate change. Engineering is crucial to ensuring we are able
to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and minimise the effects of the damage
we have already done to the planet.”
Other predictions include the use of in-building energy storage systems,
wider appreciation and understanding of embodied energy and the total carbon
impact of the construction process and the widespread use of Energy Performance
Contracts.
Phil Armitage, Senior Partner at Max Fordham said: “Some of our
predictions are quite optimistic, but they are intended to highlight the
problems we face and some of the ways engineering can be used to help solve
them.”
