And with more thought to whole life performance, low carbon, sustainable buildings can keep delivering benefits even after their lifetimes.
Bryden Wood has carried out an operational and embodied carbon analysis on three different levels of intervention on an existing commercial building:.Light-touch refurbishment, which includes only an upgrade of MEP equipment, windows and ceilings.. A full refurbishment, retaining only structural elements and including MEP upgrade, new façade, finishes and internal partitions.. Full demolition, and construction of a new building..
The calculation consists of a whole life cycle carbon analysis (WLCA) of the three options, including operational and embodied carbon (A-C).The embodied carbon figures used are estimations based on LETI 2020 benchmarks for office buildings, excluding sequestration.The operational carbon estimates are based on RIBA ‘business as usual’ (light-touch refurbishment), our own assessment of 2020 good practice (full adaptive reuse refurbishment) and RIBA 2030 targets (new construction).
The operational carbon emissions are based on the assumption that at the current rate of decarbonisation, the emissions by 2040 will be 67gCO./kWh (BEIS 2040), and that by 2050 they will be zero carbon..
The charts below show the total accumulated carbon emissions and the detailed 60-year projection of the three cases.
Looking at the total emissions after 60 years, light refurbishment is the most advantageous adaptive reuse option (26% less carbon than new construction), followed by a full refurbishment (23% better than new construction).’, which describes it as ‘seminal’.
The P-DfMA approach is also central to the Infrastructure and Project Authority’s ‘.Transforming Infrastructure Performance: Roadmap to 2030.
’.. Jaimie was awarded an MBE for Services to Construction in the Queen's Birthday Honours List, June 2021.In 2022, he co-authored the RIBA-published book:.