Read AMP Capital’s Commitment profile here.
Retrofitting is a great way to update an existing building and make it more sustainable. AMP Capital’s ambitious project to upcycle AMP Centre in Sydney, Australia, now known as Quay Quarter Tower, an outdated 1970s skyscraper, is proof that you don’t need to demolish and build new.
The renovated skyscraper salvaged two-thirds of the old structure and 95% of the building’s core. By retaining the building’s structure, where the majority of embodied carbon is, the carbon footprint was reduced. By minimising the use of carbon intensive materials like concrete, around 12,000 tonnes of carbon was saved. The new design doubled the available space and can now accommodate 9,000 users. AMP Capital reported that refurbishing the existing building was significantly cheaper than building from scratch. The business saved an estimated $102 million by salvaging the structure.
Read Lendlease Europe’s Commitment profile here.
Lendlease Europe have released a new report, ‘Progress Towards Mission Zero’, detailing their decarbonisation action plans. The business has used a combination of direct carbon saving initiatives and changes to its supply chain and saved over 80,000 tonnes of carbon. Lendlease has so far reduced its Scope 1 emissions by 39%, Scope 2 emissions by 78% and Scope 3 emissions by 24%.
In January 2022, Lendlease implemented its Alternative Fuel Policy, which requires all UK Lendlease construction sites are fossil fuel free. The business switched out traditional diesel for Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) and is also removing gas from properties in its portfolio. Lendlease has mandated that all new developments are designed without onsite fossil fuels.
Lendlease is committed to pursuing fossil fuel free energy on all major urban developments to achieve its 2040 Absolute Zero Carbon target.
Read Buro Happold’s Commitment profile here.
Creating sustainable environments is no small feat and Buro Happold and CREE Buildings are embracing it together with the hopes of accelerating a global shift to net zero construction.
Buro Happold and CREE Buildings collaborated to create EDGE Suedkreuz, Germany’s largest freestanding timber-hybrid construction. From the lessons learned over this project, the businesses had one question: How can we bring sustainable solutions to even more projects?
Buro Happold’s computational experts and engineers came together with CREE Buildings’ experts for a day-long hackathon. The group had key factors that needed to be addressed like facilitating a shift to resource efficient and sustainable construction, as well as leveraging inherent strengths and networks to speed up the implementation of sustainable solutions.
By thinking outside the box, the group found a solution that will allow businesses to optimise their processes and build better. The rapid prototyping tool will assist in applying the CREE System to any given footprint and return valuable data to determine feasibility, necessary materials, embodied carbon, assembly times, and costs.
Read Deloitte’s Commitment profile here.
The war in Ukraine has far-reaching ramifications and Europe is currently facing a hike in gas prices due to the conflict. Big businesses like Deloitte are doing their part to reduce carbon emissions and cut energy bills. Over the December and January shutdown period, Deloitte cut its office temperatures by 2°C.
The rise in remote working and net zero targets have aligned to push towards more significant changes and bolder steps. In September 2022, Deloitte’s German office implemented temperature reductions and since then other companies like KPMG have followed suit.
Deloitte estimates that closure and temperature reduction in their offices will result in savings of up to £75,000 which will be donated to the charity Scope. Steps like this have encouraged other big accounting firms to take action. The expected savings from this closure is 230,000kWh, which is enough to power Milton Keynes and Cambridge sites for more than a year.
Deloitte is also a signatory of The Climate Pledge.
Read the Scottish Government’s Commitment profile here.
Changing the approach to the climate crisis requires action from everyone, but action from countries, politicians and businesses will accelerate action further. The Scottish government is advocating for sustainable built environments for its citizens by taking action now.
Last year the Scottish government passed the Domestic Building Environmental Standards (Scotland) Bill which will be fast-tracked through secondary legislation to be fully enacted by the end of 2024. The bill will require the mandatory use of Passivhaus design standards in new housing developments in Scotland.
Scotland recently completed a Passivhaus social housing development in Stirlingshire and an even larger development will follow in Glasgow. This development will start towards the end of 2023 when the new mandates take effect. Bold, frontrunner action like this is necessary if we’re going to meet the Paris Agreement target.
Read LāhiTapiola’s Commitment profile here.
LähiTapiola understands that without thriving ecosystems and sustainable environments, our ambitions of reaching net zero targets are frivolous. LähiTapiola is proud to celebrate its latest achievement: a Platinum-level environmental certificate for the operational phase using the LEED v4 system – only the second of its kind in Finland.
The Tapiolan Hohka building underwent an intensive three-month recertification process during autumn 2022. Over the course of the process, the recycling rate of the building’s waste was monitored and operating models for property maintenance were developed. As part of the process, an energy audit, a water efficiency development project and a user survey were also carried out. Tapiolan Hohka has been carrying out regular assessments to reduce the building’s environmental load and energy consumption, as well as measures to improve user satisfaction since its completion in 2011.
LähiTapola’s goal is for its building portfolio to be carbon neutral in terms of energy consumption by 2025.
Read Bennetts Associates’ Commitment profile here.
For the building and construction sector, plugging data gaps is key to enabling better decision making. Bennetts Associates has two buildings featured in LETI’s Embodied Carbon Case Studies: Canal Reach (Meta Office) and Sports Hall. The data gathered from these two UK buildings showcase good practices regarding the consideration of embodied carbon and whole life carbon principles.
Sports Hall is Bennetts Associates’ first all-timber building with a target of reducing the building’s embodied carbon as much as possible. Each element of the construction process was taken into consideration to deliver a building that benefits the environment and occupants whilst maintaining strong aesthetics.
11 – 21 Canal Reach is the UK home for the Meta offices and has over 400,000 square feet of flexible floor plates. The building has been awarded a BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ rating, exceeding its original target.
By sharing data from various projects, Bennetts Associates hopes to initiate further distribution of project data from more architectural practices and improve the transparency of embodied carbon reporting.
Read Mace’s Commitment profile here.
Quay Quarter Tower has set the benchmark for upcycling and refurbishing existing buildings and the 11 storey Petersborough Court building aims to follow suit. This building was once home to Goldman Sach’s European HQ in the UK and Mace will now give it the sustainable lift it deserves.
The project is already underway and is expected to be finished in 2024, with the design strategy aimed to maintain the building’s iconic fabric and structural elements. Mace will ensure that the lettable area is maximised and will improve the energy efficiency of the building’s operations to create market leading offers for its tenants.
Mace understands that building sustainably doesn’t mean you need to sacrifice beauty. The building will feature transformed Fleet Street and Shoe Lane building entrances, a long gallery entrance with new glazing, and redesigned interiors aligned to the highest sustainability standards, health and wellness and dual-feed, 100% ‘All-Electric’ technology.
