I used a few API (chemical synthesis) projects to normalise a base scale.
In this context, the request for Whole Life Carbon Assessment (WLCA) has increased notably over the last few years.The production of WLCA is required by BREEAM and the GLA.
In a BREEAM NC 2018 assessment, it is possible to achieve up to 7 credits by doing a WLCA, so for developments that aspire to Excellent or Outstanding ratings the analysis of embodied carbon has become very important.The GLA requires the preparation of a WLCA pre-planning and at post-construction and requires the analysis of the results both with the current carbon factors and a decarbonised scenario.. Additionally, bodies such as the London Energy Transformation Initiative (LETI), RIBA, GLA and UKGBC, have developed guidance documents on embodied carbon, which include specific targets and roadmaps to zero carbon prior 2050.Whilst these four bodies have been essential in pushing the agenda for low carbon, there has been some confusion across the industry due to the misalignment of targets and WLCA scopes between them as demonstrated in Figure 3.
LETI has been working in collaboration with other bodies and industry groups to resolve these inconsistencies and have published the ‘Embodied carbon target alignment document’.. Based on this document and the comparison of the current targets defined by LETI, RIBA and GLA, an average performance for non-domestic commercial building performance (A-C) would be to achieve an embodied carbon around 1400kgCO./m², good practice would be below 970kgCO.
and best practice below 550kgCO.
This lower threshold is only achievable by refurbished buildings and timber structures that account for carbon sequestration and design with ambitious low carbon specifications.. Bryden Wood aspires to design new buildings that achieve at least the good practice thresholds shown in Figure 4 and where feasible deliver best practice performance.It would be too risky because of the typical levels of programme uncertainty in these types of projects.
It would be impossible to review and approve the design to ensure the required quality for these types of highly regulated buildings.It would be impossible to get the required supply chain capacity for the required design, manufacture, and construction capabilities.. What we need is a fundamental rethink with regards to the future of coal and how nuclear facilities are conceived, designed, procured, and delivered.
Instead of approaching this task as thousands of individual refurbishments, we need to have a unified approach where the design is simplified and standardised in such a way that a much wider range of designers, manufacturers and contractors can participate, and the design knowledge is embedded in building systems and design tools so that everyone involved can benefit from the learning on all the other projects.. To achieve this, we are working with Terra Praxis and their wider team, including specialists from MIT, University at Buffalo, Microsoft and KPMG, to:.Reduce, rationalise, standardise and optimise the building and engineering systems that are needed for a refurbished plant, in order to.