Sustainabuild Monthly March 2024

HELLO! WELCOME TO SUSTAINABUILD MONTHLY

Matt Colgan, Director of Sustainabuild

The enthusiasm sparked by our inaugural Breakfast Club has been sustained with the successful delivery of our February event - and it was great to see everyone there. As well as some great networking, we welcomed speakers from three leading sustainable and innovative building materials companies, aligning with our theme: ‘Sustainable Building Materials: Key to Scotland's Net Zero Transition in the Built Environment.’

It was clear that the room was passionate about seeing some form of regulation for whole life carbon, as well as funding needed - to help the industry drive the just transition

Last week I attended Futurebuild in London, a key UK exhibition for the built environment. It was a valuable chance for me to make new connections with leading businesses and sustainability advocates pushing for the sector’s decarbonisation across the UK and share our plans for Sustainabuild

The National Retrofit Conference, part of the event, showcased inspiring retrofit projects across Europe, offering lessons for the UK Additionally, a session on Net Zero Buildings underscored the necessity for a unified global definition of net zero. Departing with a pocket full of new contacts and potential Sustainabuild partners, I was inspired by the industry's significant strides towards decarbonisation and appreciation for the greater need for collaboration.

The team here is now excited for our upcoming March 28th Breakfast Club, focused on ‘Net Zero Buildings.’ We are honoured to have Richard Thompson, Architectural Director at Parabola Group, and Lindsay Walter Adams, Senior Engineer at Arup, and Ryan Cossar, Associate Director at Scottish Futures Trust as our expert speakers. We’re looking forward to Richard’s presentation on the development of 1 New Park Square and the transformation of Edinburgh Park into one of Edinburgh’s greenest building projects with zero operational carbon This event has quickly become an essential gathering for Scottish built environment professionals committed to the net zero transition

If you haven’t booked your place already don't miss out secure your spot now via our events page at www sustainabuildscotland co uk

GOOD NEWS

Giant redwoods - the world's largest treesare flourishing in Scotland, and throughout the UK and now even outnumber those found in their native range in California.

The giants were first brought to the UK by the Victorians about 160 years ago, and a new study suggests they are growing at a similar rate to their US counterparts An estimated 500,000 trees are in the UK compared to 80,000 in California. However, they aren't yet as tall In California they can reach 90m-high, but in the UK the tallest is 54 87m To assess how these towering giants are adapting to their UK home, scientists selected a sample of nearly 5,000 trees to study at Benmore Botanic Garden in Argyllshire, Havering Country Park in Essex and Wakehurst in Sussex. The scientists also looked at how much carbon dioxide the trees were absorbing - trees soak up and store the greenhouse gas and planting more trees can play an important role in helping to tackle climate change

ECO SPOTLIGHT

The Barclays Glasgow campus, in Tradeston, Glasgow, has been hailed one of the leading net zero buildings in Scotland. In their own words, here’s how they did it!

At the heart of our vision was a world class and sustainable campus that contributes to Barclays ambition to become a net zero bank by 2050 To that end, we are installing a Sustainability Centre on Campus, that will provide self-generated solar energy and rely on carbon-free technology to heat and cool the buildings. The site also offers community hub spaces which allow us to work with local social enterprise, local start-ups and great local micro businesses

The campus builds on Barclays’ net zero ambitions and zero waste strategy and with a desire to prioritise sustainability in a city centre site. The Campus will be the first to achieve zero waste by 2025 It will offer reusables and onsite compost that will be repurposed for our landscaping needs We will also produce our own honey and support city biodiversity with 60,000 honey bees on site The building was also designed with neurodiversity in mind. Being careful about the choice of finishes, the acoustics and the light quality were all important considerations to drive inclusivity at the campus

Throughout the project we have collaborated well with the main economic agencies and local government to realise a shared vision of redeveloping an area that has been derelict for decades Our regeneration of the area has breathed new economic life into the city, expanding the city centre across the River Clyde to the south while, crucially, building a site that will retain and attract the best talent.

80%

Around 80% of the buildings that will be with us in 2050 have already been built and many will require retrofitting.

5,000

Scotland needs to jump from retrofitting 5,000 homes a year to over 100,000 in order to reach net zero targets, says a brand new report by IPPR Scotland

ECO INSIGHT ED GRITTEN

Mover 15 million homes across Great Britain are energy inefficient These homes have an EPC of C or below,

Ed Gritten, is the Engagement and Insights Officer at the Quality of Life Foundation, and has a background in built environment communications.

Can you give us a snapshot of your career so far?

I started out wanting to know more about how our spaces and places shape us as individuals and as a society - but also why the most vulnerable in our society can get left behind. After leaving uni I worked for a communications agency for the built environment and part-time for a start-up urban greening company. Working now for the Quality of Life Foundation I get so inspired by the many amazing local community groups and individuals facilitating really invaluable initiatives And hopefully by empowering these local voices, we can help shape national policy for the better

Natural spaces, wellbeing and development – can you explain just how entwined these three elements are to create a thriving community?

If you speak to some people, the words ‘development’ and ‘nature’ don’t mix well People might think brownfields sites are more suitable, and on the whole that’s probably true, though these often have very specific and adapted habitats If nature and people are the focus for developments, then thriving communities will be the result It’s about creating those places where serendipitous moments of connection can happen.

How have communities become more involved in shaping their living spaces?

People want green space Since the pandemic, people have vocalised this more Learning from lived experience is incredibly important for all new living spaces That's why things like post-occupancy evaluations are really important to reveal necessary changes, improvements and learnings The feedback process from local communities, of all voices and perspectives, should be heard throughout the design stage, otherwise the design is not going to work in the long-term.

Do you think 10% biodiversity net gain goes far enough?

I think it sets a useful and relatively easy target - but it should be minimum It’s not always very useful to have a target or number attached; it can limit as well as increase ambition But for the sake of where planning laws are heading, I think it’s useful Let’s hope those offsite custodians of BNG plans are genuinely ambitious too

You can hear more from Ed on episode two of ‘Around The Table’ podcast by Building Relations PR, click here.

READ ALL ABOUT US..

Here’s just some of the coverage that our PR partners, Building Relations have secured for us so far..

DID YOU KNOW THAT..

By 2050, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish. Currently, there are around 3.5 trillion fish living in the ocean.

LOW

Let’s confront the important issue at hand: embodied carbon. At NorDan, we prioritise sustainability in everything we do, including our product development. Our commitment to true sustainability is exemplified by our provision of low carbon timber windows and doors.

WHAT’S COMING UP NEXT MONTH

April

10:00-18:00PM

30 April

12:00-18:30PM

8-9 May

8:30 – 10:00AM

SPF Annual Conference 2024 - Glasgow

University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, G1 1RD

Highlights issues facing the real estate sector and public sector partners in Scotland For tickets and more information, click here

8-9

May

9:30 – 4:30PM

Travers Smith LLP, 10 Snow Hill, London, EC1A 2AL

Theme - ‘From net zero to nature’ Provides an update on the sectors journey to net zero, the impact of ESG on the market For tickets and more information, click here

FOOTPRINT+ - London

1 Old Billingsgate Walk, Riverside, 16 Lower Thames Street, London, EC3R 6DX

The UK Property Event for a Zero Carbon Future. Explore how technology and materials, energy systems and data can work together to drive down building’s carbon emissions. For tickets and more information, click here.

CREtech London 2024 - London

Magazine London

Offering a blueprint of how the built world must evolve to meet today’s extraordinary marketplace and challenges Listen and watch speakers deliver leading-edge content to foster innovation, drive productivity and enhance sustainability initiatives For tickets and more information, click here

If you want your news included in the next edition please email Matt@sustainabuild.co.uk

SUSTAINABILITY JOBS OF THE MONTH

Lead Change and Delivery Officer (Carbon Management) Waverley Court (Edinburgh)

We are looking for an experienced, self-motivated, and flexible carbon management professional to join the Council’s Corporate Policy and Insight function. For more information, click here.

Senior Carbon Consultant Jacobs (Glasgow)

You will have opportunities for project management, business case development, scoping commercial propositions through sales and client relationship management, and training a team of consultants For more information, click here

Managing Consultant - Climate Change and Net Zero ERM (Aberdeen)

There is an opportunity for an enthusiastic, experienced individual to join our climate change consultancy team, focussing on the heavy industry sector. For more information, click here.

Carbon Reporting Specialist Navartis (Coatbridge)

Be part of the HSQE team and assist the team in maintaining full engagement in meeting business objectives and identifying industry best practice relating to carbon reduction. For more information, click here.

Senior Environmental Manager Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (Aberdeen)

Developing, administering, and enforcing the environmental and decommissioning regulatory regime covering offshore oil and gas, offshore gas unloading and storage and offshore carbon dioxide storage For more information, click here

Team leader - locational electricity markets policy design Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (Aberdeen)

As part of Government's work on electricity market reform we are looking for a team leader for policy development on locational electricity pricing For more information, click here