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The research reported in this case study demonstrates that in order to achieve a carbon neutral future whole life building carbon footprinting should be undertaken by using Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) at all stages of design, construction and throughout the lifespan of buildings. Practical tools in this area are few, and the award winning research projects reported here address this need and have had impacts in the following areas; firstly, through their direct applications in building procurement and management, secondly through changes to national standards and specifications and thus professional practice, and thirdly through enhanced public awareness at local, national and international levels.
This case study presents a dynamic development framework route-map (the Precinct Planning Design Standard, PPDS) that enhances sustainability and the delivery of a development's goals, aims, and objectives for medium-large mixed-use precinct developments and tourist resorts in developing countries. The standard shortens pre-planning timescales, achieves greater certainty in actual performance delivery and reduces environmental impact for developers, developments, and their infrastructure.
Through Earthcheck Pty PPDS is now commercially available and has been used to benchmark and certify ecological performance improvements of 30 Asia Pacific projects (US$ 25 billion development value). These range from 8,000 person community projects to medium sized tourism resorts and island developments. Our research has challenged existing standards and consequently influenced practitioners to rethink and improve the efficacy of their development processes.
This study presents the impact of research by Plymouth's Environmental Building Group (EBG) and Centre for Earthen Architecture (CEA) on industry and regulatory bodies. These interconnected groups research the manufacture, construction, preservation and performance (thermal, hygral and acoustic) of new and old buildings of diverse construction, including earth, straw-bale and hemp-lime. EBG/CEA research has impacted the energy consumption of 690+ homeowners (21st Century Living; DECC/Eden) and contributed to national standards for construction and conservation (BRE/DEBA/English Heritage). Industry partnerships/projects include: Zero Carbon House, Kevin McCabe Ltd; Carfrae Sustainable Design; Hukseflux; Cornish Lime Company.
Le Petit Bayle is a house in France that was designed by Jef Smith, a member of Kent School of Architecture's Centre for Architecture and Sustainable Environment, as co-designer with Victoria Thornton, completed in 2008, and which is Smith's output JS1. The range and significance of this impact is demonstrated through its dissemination to a broad and international audience of architects; architecture students in general; and architectural technicians / other building and design practitioners through a range of media. Wide coverage of the project already demonstrates impact on the primary dissemination media for architects. In addition, the house has been used as an exemplar project by L'Espace Info Énergie du Conseil d'Architecture d'Urbanisme et de l'Environnement de Midi-Pyrénées (EIE / CAUE) in France which has included study visits and public exhibitions, reaching a wide and international variety of readers and viewers from those with a general interest to specialists working in related fields. The continuing research project consists not only of the design of the house and its execution, but also of observation, post-occupancy assessment, and the formulation for new research and design principles.
Le Petit Bayle has been chosen as a case study by Dr Avi Friedman of the McGill School of Architecture to feature in his forthcoming book Sustainable Dwellings.
Procuring Social and Economic Value through Construction is focused on improving the sustainability and profitability of, and ensuring public benefit from, the UK construction sector, demonstrating the following impact:
Research carried out at the University of Greenwich has explored issues surrounding sustainable living and climate change mitigation in existing buildings. The research identified the relationships between people and the built environment and developed a series of behavioural interventions to inform building users of the energy they were consuming and provide guidance on how this could be reduced. The socio-technical relationships were used in a public engagement programme to promote debate amongst the over-65s and the interventions by Registered Social Landlords to support behaviour change and reduce energy consumption in domestic buildings. The outputs have also been used to inform Social Housing policy development.
This study brings together 2 strands of research in: (1) environmental sustainability and decision taking (Gilmour and Blackwood), and (2) novel computer games technology for efficient 3D real time and interactive visualisation of complex model outcomes (Isaacs and Falconer). This research and knowledge exchange both defined sustainability indicators which informed planning of the £1 bln Dundee waterfront development (one of the largest regeneration projects in the UK) and changed practice in project design and construction processes. The application of our research has also changed how information is displayed to stakeholders, enabling stakeholders to make informed decisions.
This case study concerns S-City VT, a Simulated-City Visualisation Toolkit. S-City VT is an urban planning tool based on computer games technology and computational modeling for efficient 3D real-time and interactive visualisation of complex data sets. S-City VT is founded on computational models that assess environmental, societal and financial measures of buildings and their functions. We have researched methodologies to enable stakeholders to explore city spaces, change construction properties and locations of buildings, and observe the consequences of those changes through intuitive 3D representations. SAVE has contributed to the £1B development of the Dundee Waterfront, one of the largest regeneration projects in the UK. Stakeholders impacted were local government organisations, the public, water companies and their regulators. The application of the research has changed not only public policy and services, but also how information is displayed to stakeholders, and in so doing has enabled sustainability assessment, supporting stakeholders in making informed decisions.
Over the past 13 years the University of Bath has been leading research into low-impact bio-based construction materials, including the construction and testing of two full-scale prototype buildings: BaleHaus (2009) and HemPod (2010) built on campus. The research has directly promoted: the development and wider market acceptance of award winning low carbon construction products (ModCell® and Hemcrete®); successful delivery of award winning buildings; and the wider sector uptake of these technologies, including in a new school building in Bath. The work has directly benefited industry partners working to meet UK Government policy requirements to deliver low carbon infrastructure and benefited society through the delivery of affordable sustainable buildings.
The Construction Management Research Unit (CMRU) has exploited its research into productivity improvement, whole life costing and sustainability assessment through a University spin-out company, Whole Life Consultants Ltd, that has achieved economic impact. With sales exceeding £1M since its inception, the company's post-2008 achievements include: the development of a labour forecasting tool that has generated contracts worth more than £100k to the Construction Industry Training Board in 2011-13; on-going implementation of a productivity improvement programme for Tayside Contracts that has produced an increase in turnover of £6.8M and a threefold increase in profitability since 2009; on-going support of the Croatian PPP/PFI programme that has contributed to the successful implementation of 11 projects since 2008.