The importance of leveraging building performance data in real time cannot be understated, if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.

Read More and Register Interest

London and Birmingham unite to share their progress on their respective Housing Retrofit Programmes. Starting with a presentation of the level of investment needed in the UK’s two largest urban areas panellists will ask the following questions:

• Why are cities the best place for the retrofit programmes to take off?
• How do we build capacity in the supply chain?
• What are the skills gaps and how can they be filled?
• How can cities work together to influence central government policy and private sector activity?

Whether a new build or retrofit project, the pillars of achieving net zero remain the same: it requires absolute commitment from the top down. That translates to a curiosity to seek the most innovative, sustainable solutions -  and willingness to adapt schemes when such solutions are found.

Welput, the fund behind the pioneering 105 Victoria Street development, will lead a discussion alongside engineers AKTII  on what’s needed to get large-scale, future-proof sustainable projects over the line.

Education could be a key enabler of transitioning to a net zero and circular economy. We discuss the opportunities and risks the education sector presents both in the UK and Internationally.

This includes a look at how investing £1.8billion in our schools and college construction, and new skills programmes could help us prepare for a changing world.  

What is the current state of play of timber in construction? 
How is the industry developing in different parts of the world? 
How much timber is available for construction?
What is the impact of transporting it?
What are the opportunities for a UK-based industry?
Is it really a silver bullet to decarbonsie building?
What developments and trends are on the horizon?

Decarbonising the UK’s energy supply sector is a central element of the strategy to achieve our national net zero target, the grid’s transition requires rapid deployment of new renewable generating capacity, storage, and demand-side flexibility. Buildings therefore have a critical role to play is driving the energy transition.

This session will take an advance look at UKGBC’s forthcoming guidance, including the principles for quality electricity procurement, the tools to compare the energy products available, and an approach to assess how well a building’s electricity strategy is contributing to enabling a net zero carbon grid.

 

NABERS UK is becoming the rating of choice for property owners to measure and improve the energy performance of buildings. A number of industry bodies in the UK have acknowledged the critical role NABERS UK will play in delivering Net Zero and have since incorporated it within their own standards and guidance. 

• What sets NABERS UK apart? 
• How are property owners, lenders and investors using NABERS UK to drive and finance change?
• Do we need a cultural shift to roll out NABERS UK at scale and what will assist the transition?

Beyond steel & bricks – what else can be reused now?

How should we evaluate the true cost of waste?

The panel will also provide an update on initiatives such as 3rd party take back schemes and developments in different materials.

Mass timber structure is being used for larger and more ambitious commercial buildings than ever before.

In this session we ask what has changed to enable the use of timber in these buildings and chart a possible trajectory for the growth of timber as a carbon-negative structural material in the commercial sector.

As the decarbonisation of the heat and transport sectors lead to energy systems decentralising and digitalising, cities find themselves in the lead, from greening of the grid to behaviour change. 

Solutions need to be tailored as cities benefit from different actions across their urban structure, decarbonisation investment and consumer engagement. The property sector must use this to collaborate with city governments, tenants, investors, energy suppliers and networks. When to focus on data platforms and IoT solutions? Flexibility in smart heating and charging? Solar rooftops? EVs as floating batteries? 

MCS Foundation will chair a session covering the implications of the government proposals including the 6 specifications under consideration and the implications these have for new build homes.

With detailed analysis from the Federation of Master Builders, Heat Pump Federation and solar industry, the panel will conclude with a Q&A to help people to respond to the request for consultation responses.

1 Appold Street sits on the southwest corner of Exchange Square, to the north of Liverpool Street Station. The c.190,000sq.ft. existing building, built in 1989 by SOM Architects, is primarily let to Deutsche Bank. A study was undertaken at Stage 0 to explore development options ranging from basic refurbishment through to demolition and new construction. Of the options considered, a comprehensive refurbishment and extension were preferred. One of the innovations being proposed is to challenge the industry norms on structural capacity.

The principle of steel re-use is clear but practical issues of procurement and assessment of reclaimed steel have been barriers to its more widespread acceptance. In the last 12 months engineers, clients, demo contractors and suppliers have been working to overcome the problems and deliver reused steel in buildings. We will learn what you need to be aware of and how progress is being made.

The Mass Timber Insurance Playbook has been written with input from all disciplines involved in the development of timber buildings.

Aligned with RIBA stages the playbook sets out what should be considered by designers, developers, fabricators and insurance intermediaries to communicate clearly with the insurance industry at every stage in the design and procurement process.

What is a Net Zero Carbon building? How can it be defined given the different factors that impact on building types and new builds vs. retrofits? There is a clear demand for an agreed methodology but in aiming to respond to 14 separate building types, can there be just one?

The UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard aims to enable the industry to robustly prove their built assets meet an agreed net zero carbon standard. Hear from the team on progress.

Supply chains have a huge impact on the carbon emitted by the construction industry. This session covers a range of intersecting issues:

• What's driving the transformation of supply chains? Is it reducing carbon emissions, optimising resources, or regulatory compliance?
• What are the benefits of investing in practices and technologies to improve the traceability of supply chains?
• Should cost savings be the only motivator for supply chains or should ROI measurements include intangible impacts and green outcomes?
• What other factors influence responsible finance and business resilience?

11 Belgrave Road is a Net Zero office retrofit designed for the next generation of occupier. The project for Quadrum will renew a 1950s office building, with partial reconstruction and new facades, garden courts and roof terraces providing flexible, contemporary workspace at the heart of Pimlico.

It is the UK’s first development to achieve a design-reviewed Excellent 5.5 Star NABERS UK, whilst hitting the top ratings in WELL, WiredScore and a host of other accreditations. 

A workshop session on early forms of policy and regulation, including some unintended consequences of well-intentioned schemes. We ask the questions:

• How can we overcome the barriers to meaningful regulation?
• How can we avoid the creation of new carbon economies from circularity?
• What is the future of waste management industry?
• Will we see the development of new skills?

Mass timber in combination with sustainably managed forests is an important solution for addressing embodied carbon in the built environment as well as improving sequestration rates in forests. The Timber Finance Initiative will present their carbon credit concept for quantifying and monetising the value construction stored carbon in a removal certificate. Mass timber carbon removal certificates can create an important incentive to choose bio-based building materials over conventional carbon intensive materials as well incentive climate smart forestry management practices.

The lengthy development process necessary to fully implement and reap the benefits of urban heat networks has resulted in some schemes relying on gas CHP possibly causing higher operational carbon emissions.

We hear from the team at Coronation Square where the heat network installer has entered into a 40-year ESCo arrangement.  The energy centre presently has capacity to supply  heat to 750 homes. An additional 1500 homes and community facilities will ultimately be powered by two 500k air source heat pumps bringing an end the use of gas-fired CHP and a full electrification of heat.

- How can developers install heat networks to ensure that potential  carbon emissions savings are realised as quickly as possible?

-  What are the fact and figures on the viability of low-carbon heat networks?

-  How can local authorities support developers of medium-sized schemes to utilise the same technology to bring electric low-carbon heat to more dwellings?

The real estate market has shown that certified buildings with strong ESG performance now command higher rental values and lower vacancy rates. New buildings must now comply with current regulations and construction standards around the globe to ensure good ESG scores. However, the real estate market still doesn’t have a standardized methodology to assess the gain or loss in asset value as a result of its environmental performance.

This session will explore how environmental performance can be incorporated into valuation and how this can be used to inform real estate retrofitting strategies. Focusing on tools such as CRREM and variables including emissions and energy intensity, the panelists will discuss how investors can anticipate and avoid asset value loss due to inaction and non-compliance.

From solid-wall heritage estates in conservation areas to modern BTR apartment complexes as little as 12 years old, owners of residential estates of all ages need extensive retrofit. In this panel we look for the solutions that work comparing:

• Individual dwelling v centralised building-wide v district heating systems
• strategies for fabric improvement 
• the best metrics to track performance and achieve Net Zero 

With an expert panel in situ, join us to debate how we tackle the main obstacles to achieving decarbonisation. As voted by you, our guests, we will have a live countdown of the main challenges to successfully meeting net zero targets.

Read More and Book

Developers seeking to adopt timber on increasingly large and complex schemes are joining forces with architects devising inventive methods of biobased construction. This Breakfast Briefing will spotlight projects by three Built by Nature Frontrunners, using timber and biobased materials for low-carbon health, housing and commercial development.

Read More and Book

An update on the progress made toward ArcelorMittal’s ambitious 2030 carbon emissions intensity reduction targets

Read More and Book

The state of Arkansas is 58% covered in forest and possesses a timber economy of demonstrable national value. It is also growing two trees for each one that is harvested. The University of Arkansas has steadily built a value-added timber and wood products approach to both its design education and campus architectural commissions, invigorating the “forest economy “ of the state and the “low-carbon” dimension of the design programs. Aided by a parallel commitment and investment from its regional neighbour, Walmart, the University of Arkansas is now a national leader in low-carbon design education and campus design and construction.

We’ll hear from the Arkansas team embracing low-carbon design education and timber construction technology and harnessing it within the built assets of the campus, saving the University of Arkansas money and delivering on the administration’s commitment to sustainable design. Through three successive projects, growing in value and complexity, the team will show how timber design and construction was adopted as their go-to architectural material. The 2023 AR Future Projects overall winner, the Anthony Timberlands Center for Design and Materials Innovation, designed by Grafton Architects for the Fay Jones School, is the prominent, emblematic example of the University’s commitment to the “forest to campus” initiative.

The City of London Corporation published a ground-breaking draft Planning Advisory Note on whole lifecycle carbon optioneering during Footprint 2022 as part of their commitment to work towards net zero carbon for both embodied and operational carbon emissions (Climate Action Strategy). 

The PAN was adopted in March 2023 following a vibrant and involved consultation process. The second stage of the process is to delve deeper into the challenges the industry is facing to decarbonise construction. This session is inviting an open debate and shared experiences in delivering the new pre-application requirements in the current market.

Many organisations have identified the common ground between the requirements of ESG and the those of B-Corp certification. In this session we will hear from the B-Corp Built Environment Working Group members on the reasons they chose to become B-Corps and how this has affected the businesses that they lead, with a frank Q&A and the opportunity to quiz them on their experiences. For developers and consultants what has becoming a B-Corp meant and how does it compare? along with the objectives of ESG?

Despite advances in circularity in some supply chains generally that has been little change in procurement behaviour. We examine what this needs to look like to support the introduction of circularity into construction supply chains covering:

• How does circular procurement differ between Tier 1 and Tier 2 contracting?
• What are the procurement clauses required to support it?
• How do we move from a minimum standard to an optimum standard of circularity?
• What lessons learned from the public sector can be transferred?

What role can public sector policy play in supporting the use of timber and bio-based materials in the construction industry?

We look at the impact of municipal policy in Amsterdam, Paris and Sweden and the development of building codes that support the use of timber in the urban context.

Concrete is an essential material yet responsible for around 7% of global emissions. UK supply chains have now set out their plans to decarbonise concrete, but how do these plans compare with the IPCC’s 1.5°-aligned decarbonisation trajectory? What should clients and designers do today to use concrete most efficiently?

Local authorities have been struck hard by the increase in fuel prices especially in the running of leisure centres. These energy-hungry buildings typically run on fossil fuels and the spiralling costs have prompted many local authorities to review the long term plans for these facilities. This panel looks at the business case for different levels of intervention: retrofitting or low-carbon new build utilsing worked examples from Spelthorne Borough Council, along with specialist consultants in this field.

The roundtable will bring together designers, operators and developers to discuss the impact of measurable sustainability criteria of student residential buildings. 

Read More and Register Interest

Biodiversity net gain (BNG) presents a strategic opportunity to enhance the natural environment and promote sustainable development. But the clock is ticking. This November, BNG will become a legal requirement for planning permissions, so planners, developers and local authorities need to start preparing now for how to deliver the provision of at least 10% gain in biodiversity.

Read More and Book 

Reusing materials requires the identification of a future recipient for materials being removed from an existing building that are no longer required by the donor building.

What is the reality of achieving this in present-day contracting? What systems are being developed by practitioners to support this?

Hear from the people putting these ideas into practice in live projects.

Timber construction is used for more than 25% of all housing in the UK, largely using MMC resulting in an increase in build quality, speed of erection and less wastage of materials, driving down both embodied energy and energy bills for tenants long term. 

Timber housing is procured by housing associations, housebuilders and local authorities. This session provides a roundup of new and exciting products and projects embracing all aspects of the efficiency and reduction in carbon these buildings achieve.

Innovations in cement production may significantly reduce the overall carbon emissions from concrete. In this session we learn about new technologies and how far developments to bring these innovations into the supply chain have progressed.

Mid-century modern icons such as Richard Seifert’s Space House are increasingly facing the need to be redeveloped in order to improve their functions and performance in line with current environmental and sustainability standards.

The project involves significant building fabric and technical upgrades of the landmark building, the repurposing of basement from car parking to bicycle parking and associated facilities, increase in floor area, and the creation of vibrant new public amenity spaces on the lower levels. The building is tracking a BREEAM Outstanding certification – the first listed commercial building to achieve this.

This panel will explore how retrofit can be achieved in a way that doesn’t detract from such rich architectural heritage, and ask what the modernists got right – and wrong – about low carbon, passive design.

In updating buildings from old we utilise varying degrees of retrofit, such as retention of just the structural frame through to the light touch refurbishment of listed buildings.  This panel will discuss the architectural possibilities of re-using buildings and the watchpoints and recommendations set out in ‘Delivering Net Zero in Use – a guide for architects’. This research project carried out by AHMM and UCL sets out processes and key lessons to support the delivery of Net Zero Carbon buildings from our existing assets.

 

The New Model Building is a set of design principles developed by architects, fire engineers and structural engineers for widespread use intended to set out a standard which will become fully accepted in the UK. 

The methodology explains how engineered timber can be used to construct multi-family multi-storey housing, complying with UK Building Regulations and with prior approval from insurers and accreditation schemes.

By moving from a take-make-waste linear economy to a circular economy, we support natural processes and leave more room for nature to thrive. How can nature restoration and the building of natural capital be spear headed and supported by the construction industry to create a thriving circular economy. And do nature based solutions sit at the heart of this?

Traditional brick and block are widely accepted, robust and durable but conventional production involves temperatures that require fossil fuels. There are developments in brick and block production that promise to remove the reliance on furnaces and bring down the carbon emissions associated with one of our most important staple building materials. 

As part of the Retrofit Agenda at Footprint+, we are hosting a private round table event to explore how leadership can impact retrofit decisions on projects and in our industry.

Read More 

The UK Green Taxonomy is intended to provide a common framework for investments that can be defined as environmentally sustainable. It is an opportunity for the UK to set a high bar globally with a rigorous, science-based taxonomy that helps accelerate green finance and support the UK’s transition to a net zero economy.

The Green Taxonomy Advisory Group provide an update on progress since last year and answer all your questions about its’ implications once implemented.

Today, the redevelopment of existing buildings is experiencing an enormous shift in attitude. Challenging the demolish and new build approach of the recent past, this is a pivotal moment where innovation is championed across the industry. 

This session will explore the analysis of a hypothetical existing, 50-year-old, 25-storey-high commercial building to demonstrate the viability of varying degrees of interventions, through which the asset's life can be extended. Many buildings exist in every city, where building parts like services, facades and fit-outs have reached their service life, letting the asset stand at a crossroads for its next ‘life’. Hear from the architect, cost consultant, developer and planner to explore the diverse priorities and resultant value of existing assets. 

What role can the public sector play in seeding and galvanising the circular economy?

Hear from key protagonists from public and private sectors, not for profit groups and public sector procurement specialists.

Scrutiny on carbon accounting in the built environment is increasing and is highly reliant on supply chains improving transparency of verified GHG emissions data. Carbon emissions associated with building services are notoriously absent. They are becoming increasingly relevant because of the recent increase in retrofit activity driven by carbon targets and MEES legislation, resulting in MEP making up a larger proportion of embodied carbon at the product stage.

In 2021 CIBSE published TM65 Embodied carbon in building services: A calculation methodology to increase knowledge and facilitate research related to whole life carbon.

This panel explores this methodology, and proposes further solutions, to better improve transparency around the embodied carbon of building services.

Medium-scale buildings offer the best opportunity to gain from the multiple benefits of building in mass timber. Paradise is a 63,000 sqft new build that delivers a building that is low-carbon both in construction and operation. Come and hear from the team how the building was conceived and designed, and hear detailed advice on:

• the carbon savings achievable
• managing the risks associated with fire and fire testing
• the process of insuring during construction and permanently

The transition to a circular economy is necessary to make our built environment more sustainable. This requires capturing and delivering value to a range of stakeholders in the value chain, but complex ownership structures can make this hard to implement.

• Is there a financial benefit to making your property portfolio circular?
• Can adopting circular economy principles lower capital cost? ie. through material leasing?
• How do we establish and realise the residual value of materials?

A lively debate on the influence the Gen Z mindset should be having on the buildings we are designing and investing in today.

Following a post pandemic shift in attitudes to what people want from their homes, we hear from people whose buildings have to meet the beliefs, attitudes and requirements of the next generation of occupiers. In a sector where asset values are dependant on the desirability of a building we ask what the next generation want and explore how delivering this ensures the security of investments and assets.

Evening drinks: Unlocking timber construction + launch of Timber Typologies

‘Timber has an exciting future. It is the single most important material when it comes to decarbonising construction. That is no exaggeration. But if timber is to realise its potential, we need to be specific about what we mean when we say timber.

Read More and Book 

85% of the world’s chalk streams are in Southern England, yet only 14% of all the rivers in England are in good ecological health. Numerous habitats are threatened by changes to both water quality and the depletion of surface and groundwater resources caused by development.

Read More and Book

Join us for a breakfast roundtable at which we’ll consider the relationship between net zero and modern placemaking as part of our national series of events, A Place at the Table.

Read More and Register Interest

The Green Finance Institute will be presenting a session on place-based finance, which will offer the audience a deep dive into the practical, tangible and exciting solutions that are emerging to help decarbonise UK homes.

These include Local Climate Bonds, Green Mortgages and Property Linked Finance, alongside their partnership with Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

In 2022, the London Property Association published ‘Retrofit First, Not Retrofit Only’ illustrating the spectrum of recent Net Zero Carbon commercial projects undertaken to date across Westminster and City of London. The case studies demonstrate the importance of allowing for flexibility through both retrofit and redevelopment approaches, providing examples of typical challenges and opportunities. This session presents key findings and invites questions from the audience.

On site renewables are most effective when the energy can be stored for later use. We talk to a trail-blazing local authority whose approach will lower the energy bills of both purchasers and tenants in a town centre regeneration project.

Love Wolverton is a £40 million project to regenerate the town centre of Wolverton, a handsome Victorian railway town that is now a popular neighbourhood in Milton Keynes. Milton Keynes City Council will deliver this 115-home regeneration scheme, in partnership with developer TOWN which devised the scheme.

The project meets long-held community ambitions for the demolition of the Agora Centre, a failed 1970s leisure and shopping centre built in the 1970s, and reinstates the lost Victorian street pattern, reconnecting and revitalising Wolverton’s town centre.

An expert panel will discuss the role of built environment design in nudging the economic needle from ‘take-make-waste’ to ‘circular’ and resource efficient. They will tackle questions such as:

• How can specifiers stimulate a market for repurposed buildings, elements and materials?
• Are there any examples of circular design approaches that can be scaled now across the UK?
• How does the RIBA Plan of Work help or hinder circular outcomes at both the macro and micro scale?
• What unintended consequences could emerge from a design philosophy which strives to create market demand for existing materials?
• Should ‘resource efficiency’ be the designers’ golden rule?

Deep retrofit of commercial buildings often aims to increase useable floor area whilst maintain the existing structure. Timber is a lightweight structural material whose additional load can frequently be added to existing buildings without the need to upgrade existing structure especially the foundations. Key protagonists of such projects give an introduction to what you need to know drawing from their wide experience.

Developers and design consultants have made significant progress on reducing the carbon emissions resulting from the shell and core of buildings and from their operational carbon emissions. IN magazine has moved their focus strongly towards this issue as occupiers are now starting to question the climate impact of interior fitout in buildings they are considering leasing.

Carbon-literate developers are finding that up to 35% of the whole life carbon of a building is in the turnover of these cutouts. What progress has been made in challenging the dominance of Cat A fitout?
 

Grafton Architects, Modus Studio, Nomos and RADDAR will present their winning and highly commended proposals, and discuss sustainable construction practices with The Architectural Review's editor Manon Mollard. 

Speakers 

• Matt Mc Cullagh and Yvonne Farrell from Grafton Architects
• Sol Camacho from RADDAR
• Katrien Vertenten and Ophélie Herranz from Nomos

Presentations will be followed by a Q&A.

Practitioners come together to debate how values will change with the adoption of circular economy principles examining methodologies such as:

• Materials passports
• Value toolkit / systems thinking
• Madaster

What actually is our stock of natural resources? What does scarcity look like for our common material types?

The BbN Legal Knowledge Platform is an online legal resource for policymakers and civil servants being developed in the Netherlands to navigate the regulatory landscape around timber construction.

A key objective of the 15-month project is to overcome regulatory silos and meet a demand from cities struggling to reach ambitious environmental goals due to construction policy complexities. Hear from the team on how the platform will leverage legislative and regulatory systems to promote the adoption of mass timber in urban development.

The Climate Crises, the post-Covid world, geopolitics and the cost of living crises have combined to force re-evaluation of our homes and what we want from them. Our homes now need to preform to higher standards and with increasingly diverse performance criteria. This is being felt in development dynamics with the rise in awareness of, and commitment to, ESG objectives at all levels if the housing sector ecosystem, but especially in financial and consumer markets and the changing compliance landscape.

We hear from Waltham Forest's development business Sixty Bricks, UKAA, PRP Architects and Future Homes Hub on balancing the diverse demands on the way we design homes for the future.

Building modelling can offer very accurate quantities of material used in our designs but carbon calculations rely on accurate data about the embodied carbon in the materials. Different parties are using different carbon factors on which carbon optioneering is being carried out and decisions are being made. 

How can we identify consistent carbon data and establish a consensus on the figures to be used? 

Hear from the team behind the Built Environment Carbon Database and Future Homes Hub on the establishment of this tool.

An existing 1970s concrete-framed structure has been transformed into the LSBU Hub, an open, welcoming centrepiece for their campus at Elephant & Castle in inner South London.

By retaining the existing structure the total embodied carbon has been calculated at 375 kgCO2e/m2which is a 40% reduction compared to a new build equivalent. This reduction is extended to 70% for the structural elements of the scheme.

The “deep renovation” offers an uplifting impression to contemporary students, staff and the surrounding community; creating a light and open environment in complete contrast to the character of the old building. Through adaptive re-use the design shows what can be possible within the constraints of an outdated 70’s concrete structure, and offers a template for the future-proofing of similar buildings.

What progress has been made in regards using Circular Economy principles to reduce material use as an intrinsic part of the design process? Including approaches to questioning your brief, themes such as Design for Manufacture, Design for Disassembly, longevity and adaptability. Principles will be explored through the design and delivery process using real life case studies, including findings from innovative R&D projects.

Evidence is mounting that green buildings command a premium in the commercial market. Developers and funding partners recognise that the creation of high-quality, sustainable assets is likely to deliver better returns in the long run.

We hear from developers and agents how timber buildings can be a significant part of this picture.

Drawing from the findings of their collaborative white paper ‘ Shopping for Health’ the panel will set out an exciting agenda for the vacant premises on Britain’s high streets delivering:

• revitalisation of town centres saving embodied carbon of defunct shopping facilities and repurposing for very needed facilities
• easy access for communities to softer healthcare offer such as counselling and other consultations
• freeing up space in heavily-serviced acute healthcare facilities for acute services

Join NHS Dorset who can explain how they are putting these opportunities into practice saving carbon, and the designers and consultants who have helped shaped the initiative.

Whilst many organisations are seeking to become more sustainable to achieve Net Zero, investment and funding can be some of the biggest challenges to achieving decarbonisation and green business operations, particularly for smaller and charitable organisations. Green Loans can play a significant role by providing loan funding to finance or refinance green projects such as renewable energy, increased energy efficiency, green buildings and retrofit projects.

The Carpenters Estate regeneration in the London Borough of Newham represents a high-water mark for how we approach post-war social housing. As this panel will explore, approaching estates of this kind is extremely complex and dependant on many factors outside of the local authorities or housing association's control. Over a period of 12 years this project will retain a large proportion of the homes maintaining the social cohesion of the community whilst refurbishing the homes and community facilities to provide thermally efficient and decent homes. This is the start of London’s most significant estate regeneration programme and is an example of successful and affordable retrofit-led regeneration.    

The Forestry Commission are funding research into the suitability and viability of English native species such as oak, beech, sweet chestnut, birch, sycamore, ash, alder, and willow for structural timber systems. Scalable solutions will be developed, and tested for their suitability for MMC use (eg cross-laminated timber and glue-laminated timber, wood fibre insulation). Strength grading of each species will make it easier to mass produce timber products for modern methods of construction.  

By manufacturing viable and scalable homegrown timber alternatives to carbon-intensive materials, we are aiming to reduce the UK’s reliance on imported products. Widening the range of species that provide a domestic wood supply could also provide a boost for localised manufacturing facilities and supply chains

Marks Barfield Architects have been developing methods and techniques that enable a process of re-use, both within a refurbishment and when taken from the donor and re-used in a recipient building. This is with a wider view to re-use materials in all projects. Taking their client along with them on the journey, they have taken an elemental approach to the re-use of many different categories of materials encountering a whole range of different practical, timescale, financial and legal challenges: 

• Deconstruction
• Storage
• Warranties
• Occupier perception

Come and hear how these innovative methods are delivering re-use, diverting materials from recycling and waste, cutting embodied energy and at either an equivalent cost or cheaper than specifying new products.