10 THE CLIMATE CHALLENGE
Carbon in construction: ethics or economics?
Staged to look at the question of whether action on climate change in the built environment is an ethical or economical issue, a recent event was held in Hove, East Sussex, that saw panellists from across the sector discuss which was the best way for the industry to approach solutions. Housebuilder & Developer’s Jack Wooler attended to find out.
Held in the seaside city of Brighton & Hove, the recent event titled Brighton Chamber, ‘Construction Voice, ethics or economics: making the case for action on climate change in the built environment’ asked the question – is carbon in construc- tion an ethical or a financial issue? A panel of industry experts are gathered together at co-working space PLATF9RM in Hove Town Hall to discuss this key question in front of an audience of local business leaders in the sector. The panel, consisting of Tom Westwood,
senior associate at Waugh Thistleton Architects, Caterina Brandmayr, senior policy analyst at Green Alliance, Alasdair Donn, who is head of building performance at event sponsor Willmott Dixon Construction, and chair Ed Allison- Wright from Haydon Consulting, revealed how they are each pursuing their own distinct, but altogether positive outlook on the ways the industry can tackle the growing threat of climate change.
SOLUTIONS THAT GROW ON TREES With the audience gathered on seating
“TIMBER IS MASSIVE AND SLOW-BURNING, AND THE MATERIAL’S BURNING PROPERTIES ARE WELL KNOWN, AND EASILY MODELLED AND PLANNED FOR” –TIM WESTWOOD, WAUGH THISTLETON ARCHITECTS
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that doubles as stairs in the modern auditorium-style space, Ed Allison-Wright of Haydon Consulting introduced the “very hot topic.”
Before handing over the mic over to
Tom of Waugh Thistleton – a practice which Ed noted has long been heavily carbon focused – he lauded its Dalston Works CLT project in London. According to Tom, the practice “got the bug” for engineered timber after realising its many benefits, and working out that you could engineer even build- ings of 10 stories (as in Dalston Works) out of the material.
He listed many of these benefits to the audience, and said he wanted to “show them off to the world.” Ed agreeing that the “much faster programme” offered particularly by prefabricated timber is one that many of the asssembled professionals in the room could gain from. One particular benefit they found at Dalston Works was that the design could have far shallower foundations – timber structures being lighter than concrete. This not only meant that the build was cheaper, but that they could add further floors where the foundations might have been – with Crossrail dictating their maximum depth.
The architect also argued that far fewer elements are necessary when building with prefabricated timber as opposed to steel gauge – one such example being that timber is an insulant in itself, reducing the insulation necessary. Most of all, however, the “embodied carbon is the most exciting thing about timber,” said Westwood.
He proposed that if timber were some
new material that had suddenly emerged, no one would believe it. “It literally grows on trees,” said the architect, “it’s a magical material.”
A few questions around timber were raised from the chair and audience. One was in regard to the limits of supply, which Tom simply responded to as: “The timber is out there – and if you build more, people will plant more.” The chair then raised the much contested fire-risk issues in the wake of Grenfell, to which Westwood provided the caveat: “Timber burns, we’re not going to sit here and pretend it doesn’t,” but, in fact, he said that timber has “many benefits” in terms of fire risk. The main ones he lists are that timber is “massive and slow burning,” and its burning properties are well known, and easily modelled and planned for. Moving on from this, the architect
discussed how building larger buildings in timber is being talked about as if it is a new idea, but that in reality it has been used in North America and even Scotland for some time. He believed that “culture” is the main reason we don’t use it more – alluding to the UK’s love of brick and block.
One audience member asked about
the longevity of timber builds, to which Westwood gave the example of temples in the Far East built entirely from timber, which are still standing today hundreds of years after their conception.
Another asked if outside influence was necessary to encourage such builds, he told the audience: “If there’s one thing we’d love to see from central Government, “it’s embodied carbon regulation.” Finally, he lamented that since the ban
on combustible elements in buildings’ facades post-Grenfell (recently widened to potentially include all new resi build- ings over four stories), “we couldn’t have built Dalston Lane today, which is a great shame.”
©Sarah Bennett Commercial Photography
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