The smallest being.
Build Nothing: identify opportunities to reuse existing structures, refurbish and reuse demolition materials onsite.Build Less: optimise the building’s form, structure, structural grid, WWR and DfMA components; recommend the use of durable materials, design-out basements and false ceilings (exposed soffit); design spaces which are adaptable and can be easily deconstructed..
Build Clever: specify low carbon materials with a focus on the recycled content of steel and concrete and the use of timber; maximise the recycled content of finishes, use reclaimed floors and explore system’s rental; where possible use low GWP refrigerants and avoid VRF systems..Build Efficiently: implement innovative construction strategies such as Modern methods of Construction (MMC) and use a DfMA approach to reduce waste onsite..Offset: Any remaining carbon should be offset via recognised carbon offset schemes.
Offsets used should be publicly disclosed.. An example of design strategies that follow the proposed embodied carbon hierarchy is shown in Figure 5..Step-by-step hierarchy for net zero embodied carbon.
Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA).
As identified above, DfMA is an essential part of the strategy to achieve net zero embodied and operational carbon., whose core policy – harmonise, digitise and rationalise demand – creates a new opportunity to apply a consistent set of technical standards to assets being built across the public sector..
This level of standardisation has the capability to create fewer documents and standards, giving the market a much better opportunity to respond, he says.Johnston feels that the adoption of a more standardised, foundational approach will act as a springboard, setting up the opportunity to work with more sophisticated industrialised construction techniques like prefab and DfMA.. Amy Marks is fine with the idea of standardisation but thinks things also depend on how performance-based, or prescriptive those standards are.
She cautions that we don’t want a level of standardisation where there isn’t space for innovation, or which “precludes fabrication.”.These things really depend on who makes the standards, she says, what they are thinking of enabling in the future, and what their understanding of the future looks like.
(Editor: Collapsible Blenders)