Feature
Recycle, Re-use, Retrofit: The 3 R’s Of Sustainable Design By Christian Mabey, Managing Director, Optima Products.
We are less than seven years away from our next major net zero target, to cut carbon emissions by 68% by 2030. However many, from climate experts to the general public, are starting to doubt our ability to achieve this benchmark. What does that suggest of our 2050 ambitions? I worry that, as a country, we’re underprepared.
That’s not to say progress hasn’t been made, there have been improvements. For example, we’ve made considerable headway in phasing out single-use packaging, such as plastic water bottles, straws and shopping bags. However, this is small fry compared to the way our towns and cities are built, particularly commercial property.
It’s now time to address the way we design and
specify contemporary office space, a hidden emitter in need of a substantial carbon haircut.
Unfortunately, a major change in attitudes is required. Recycling, which has become a go-to answer for those challenges on green practices, is not enough on its own. Reuse and retrofit need to be given equal consideration when looking to make commercial spaces carbon neutral.
Going Round In Circles
There are countless advantages to adopting a circular economic approach to office design and, in fact any other specification project. It’s not only from an emissions perspective, but a financial one too. In an age of increasingly stringent regulation and taxation on emissions, as well as heightened investor and consumer pressure, minimising waste and selecting long-life fixtures, fittings and finishes can yield dividends. As sustainability briefs become the norm in design briefs, those
suppliers
which can prove low-carbon attributes will have a significant competitive edge.
Adopting a circular strategy will also reduce the knee-jerk dash for virgin materials, particularly when considered in tandem with ESG objectives. It’s also benefitting manufacturers, breaking the vicious cycle of competing over the rising cost of raw materials and encouraging them to consider how to better use materials and products which already exist within our built environment.
The greater movement towards the ‘sustain and retain’ design ethos is also helping to cut down energy consumption costs, from manufacture to installation. For example, in the case of recycling or reusing a traditional emission-intensive material like aluminium, this can save up to 95%.
12 fmuk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44
