Sustainable solutions for our built environment

COVID-19 has changed the way we view our built environment. We should take care to ensure that our capacity for innovation lasts far longer than the pandemic, says Richard Hyams

With deadlines for the UK's sustainability targets edging ever closer, efforts to combat the climate crisis need to  be elevat­ed. National lockdowns and tiered restrictions have provided respite for our environment in recent months, and we should now build on this lifeline in order to alleviate the pressures we have placed on our planet over a much longer period.

Indeed, Lord Deben, Chair of the Committee on Climate Change and former Environment Secretary, is right to have recently urged the property industry to build sustainability into our cities. As we begin a new year with hopes of ending the global pandemic, we should not neglect the other crisis brewing in our built environment.

Thankfully, there are many steps we can take to improve the sustainability credentials of cities such as London, where the build environment is responsible for a staggering 78 per cent of emissions.' By embracing innovations such as 'smart building' technology and modern methods of construction, modern innovative approach to design can mitigate buildings' lifetime emissions, urban planners can develop long-term solutions to make sustainability central to city life.

Healthier Homes

After almost a year of  remote working, many of  us have had to think particularly hard about how healthy our home envi­ronments are. When  contemplating  changes to our homes, we should consider our  personal health as well as the health of our planet, but these are two sides of the same coin. By leveraging new technologies, the construction sector can pro­vide homes with optimal benefits for residents and the envi­ronment.

To see how truly green our residential spaces can be, we need look no further than Milan's Bosco Verticale, with its two towers, each housing hundreds of trees, ensuring the complex lives up to its name as a 'vertical forest' '

By turning to innovation, the UK construction sector can elevate sustainable architecture. Our green homes of the future may look and feel very different to what we are used to. For example, exterior surfaces may fuse with 'living wall' technolo­gy. astudio are working in partnership with Brunel University to develop such systems. The 'walls' are skin structures of algae compounds, which can be grown waste-free using natural resources such as fungus mycelium. This algae removes pollu­tants from the atmosphere and provides a sustainable source of biofuel, both of which help subsidise the environmental cost of powering the building.

Incorporating more greenery into urban settings is not only beneficial for the environment; it is also conducive to maintain­ ing a high standard of mental and physical health among resi­ dents. Solutions which tick both of these boxes will help put the UK in the best possible position to meet its sustainability tar­ gets on time.

Embracing Efficiency

Another consequence of the pandemic has been the rapid rise of touchless technology, and this too can help our build­ings become more sustainable as we equip them for life after COVID-19. Smart building technology such as the Internet of Things (loT) can unlock new possibilities for energy efficiency in our homes, schools, and offices.

loT tech such as motion sensors and footfall pathways can track occupancy throughout buildings in real time, while smart facilities management platforms can translate this data into actionable insights for occupants. Alternatively, Al-driven sys­ tems can automatically adjust heating output, for instance, based on learned occupancy patterns or additional data from local weather forecasts.

Energy savings made with this technology would constitute significant return on investment, both financially and environ­mentally. In the UK, heating accounts for 10 per cent of our total carbon foot print,while only around 300,000 of our build­ings meet the Passivhaus standard for energy efficiency, which reduces heating requirements by 75 per cent compared to stan­ dard new builds.4

We can also minimise energy wastage on unnecessary light­ing by employing functions such as automated dimming and daylight harvesting. Moreover, smart systems can use 'task tun­ing' to limit light output in a space according to user preference . Preferences can be programmed manually or learned by the Al based on previous patterns.

Integrating tech and innovative products should not be a replacement for good strategic thinking across design disci­plines for integrated energy efficiencies. For the redevelopment of St Paul's Way Trust School, for example, astudio used natural ventilation and high thermal mass to  reduce emissions by 60 per cent compared to a typical school.' A range of solutions are necessary to bring buildings of all types up to new sustainability standards.

James Brittain

Green Practices

COVID-19 has increased aversion to public transport, with would-be commuters understandably anxious about return­ing to crowded trains and tubes where the risk of virus transmission is relatively high. Planners have an opportunity to therefore help facilitate green means of transport to prevent an upsurge in personal vehicle usage which would only exacer­ bate cities' pollution problems.

Despite growing support for electric vehicles, they cannot solve this dilemma alone. Switching to electric vehicles success­ fully will means building the infrastructure required to support them and viable economics of cost in purchase and running for which we currently lack electricity capacity.

We should therefore prioritise solutions which enable not just our vehicles, but our entire built environment to participate in an integrated green revolution. Increasing demand for sustainable electricity can be met by embracing innovations such as solar­ powered homes, which would empower individuals to become more self-sufficient - and even sell surplus energy into the grid.

Studies show that urban-dwellers are more environmentally conscious than ever, with roughly half the population finding solace in green spaces during the first national lockdown. Moreover, leading bike manufacturer Brompton saw a fivefold increase in sales over the same period. Urban planners should build on this enthusiasm for environmentally friendly activity by providing people with safe, sustainable alternatives to public transport.

Mobilising Modular

Making numerous changes to our built environment would be challenging enough without the added time pressure of the environmental crisis. So how best to deliver more sustainable buildings at pace? Modular construction provides an answer to this question, having already helped schools and hospitals increase their capacity in response to COVID-19. A fast and effective solution, modular methods reduce onsite building time by more than 75 per cent, which in turn mitigates air and noise pollution onsite .' Modular's environmental advantages over tra­ditional methods make it an ideal means of cutting construc­tion's considerable carbon footprint.

Modular buildings are manufactured in a factory setting, where the environmental impact of construction can be reduced significantly. Supply chain issues are dealt with more smoothly from the factory floor, facilitating easier procurement of eco­ friendly materials such as FSC-approved timber and sustainably sourced steel. Furthermore, waste material produced by one pro­ject can be recycled into others to limit unnecessary consump­tion of resources.

Since the construction sector is the UK's largest consumer of natural resources, using up 400m tonnes per year, adoption of modular methods by as many projects as possible would be of immense benefit." astudio's Desborough Road project in High Wycombe is a case in point, providing 58 units of accommoda­ tion for vulnerable families at minimal cost to the environment. Far from being just a quick fix, modular construction can help us build with the long-term future of the planet in mind.

Building for the future

Prioritising sustainability will become the greatest challenge facing urban planners once we eventually emerge from the pandemic. And with the help of a range of new technologies - from living walls and the Internet of Things to solar power and modular construction - the construction sector can rise to this challenge well-equipped  to succee d. COVID-19 has changed the  way we view out  built environment, and we should take care to ensure that our capacity for innovation lasts far longer than the pandemic. By doing this, we can build for our own futures as well as the future of our environment.