UKGBC’s Biodiversity and Environmental Net Gain Project has developed a suite of resources and information to enable industry professionals to meet and exceed the minimum standards set out in this legislation and ensure the BNG/ENG strategies that are being used on sites align with the Government Policy changes to support long-term authentic net positive change.

At this in person event, UKGBC and programme partners will showcase the project’s achievements and detail all resources and their intended use. We will also hear from our panel of project experts with a Q&A and interactive activity, followed by networking.

Why attend?

• Better understand Biodiversity Net Gain requirements and what it means for your organisation and projects
• Develop knowledge and confidence to take practical action on Biodiversity Net Gain implementation
• Connect with built environment peers

Who should attend?

This event is open to UKGBC members only. For more information on the benefits of membership, please see this page.

Biodiversity and Environmental Net Gain Project Partners

Our work on Biodiversity Net Gain and Environmental Gain is generously supported by the following organisations.

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Following our kick off webinar on 27th September, we are hosting the next part of this systems change journey in October. This will be a 2 day Systems Change conference, where we convene all interested in this work to bring in their questions, perspectives and, crucially, help shape the programme. On day one, we will explore the biggest systemic issues, root causes and key barriers as well as get inspired about the opportunities ahead. The following day, day two – will be for those who specifically would like to be involved in the sub working groups to explore the challenges and insights on the key themes identified in day one.

Why get involved?

If you are passionate about systems change, sustainability, or just want to know more about what is coming in the future, this journey could be of interest to you. It is particularly of interest for change makers and leaders who are trying to make change within their organizations, or wider across client groups, supply chain or sub tier contractors.  

Join this inspirational, experiential learning journey to dig deeper on working through our big challenges, in a collaborative way with others. 

Who should get involved?  

This process aims to bring together a diverse group from across the value chain at all levels. We welcome involvement from anyone interested in making change happen and contributing to this new, radical programme of work. Get in touch.  

Sign up for our kick-off event on 27^th September in London where we will formally launch the programme and introduce our partners, aims and timelines.

UKGBC have committed significant resources to what we believe will be a powerful, transformational programme. We are seeking a true representation of the industry, from the big players to sole traders and everyone in between. To do this we are asking for donations only. A suggested donation would range from £150+ for large organisations, £80 for SMEs and £10 for sole traders. We are a charity and need to recoup some costs but do not want the ticket price to be a barrier to joining. Please share this event with your network. Members and non-members welcome.

What is systems change? 

Systems change refers to the process of making significant and lasting transformations to how a system operates, with the aim of addressing complex problems and achieving positive outcomes without unintended consequences. It involves shifting the fundamental structures, rules, and relationships within a system to create long-term and sustainable solutions. Instead of merely treating the symptoms or individual components, systems change focuses on understanding and addressing the root causes of a problem and involves transformational – not incremental – change. 

What is the built environment’s role? 

Progress has been made in our sector, but to put it simply, it is not enough. The scale and pace of change is inadequate. The majority of industry continues to operate in the compliance or ‘meeting regulation’ mindset. UKGBC seeks to enact change in the culture and mindsets to move away from business as usual and empower stakeholders to be take collective action in this transformation. 

What will this programme explore? 

This programme will be fluid and open to participants to bring in their unique insights and perspectives on different elements of the system, and key topics.  

Areas of conversation may cover what we see as the biggest systemic issues, for example dependencies on economic growth, inadequacy of policy and regulations, our relationship with the rest of nature, rapid decarbonisation, regenerative design or climate justice. 

Following the September kick off event, programme participants will work in sub-groups to explore the  challenges and insights on key themes and discuss possible interventions. The outcome of this work is open to the opportunities that arise across the course of the programme. 

Why UKGBC? 

With our unique positioning as a network of 700+ organisations from across the built environment value chain, we are leveraging our power as an industry convenor to facilitate the radical collaboration that is needed to enact widescale, transformative change. 

What is Involved?

There are 4 key touch points:

27th September 2023- Kick off webinar

Understanding of systems change, how to get involved.

Sign up now

16th – 17th October 2023 – Systems Change conference

What’s stopping us and what’s the change needed?

Sign up now

11th January 2024

Mid programme check in

6th-7th March 2024

Systems Change Summit, where have we got to?

Systems Change Team:

The UKGBC team is lead by CEO, Smith Mordak, and Director of Experiential Learning, Elfrida Hamilton-Russell.

Smith Mordak Chief Executive

smith.mordak@ukgbc.org

Elfrida Hamilton-Russell Learning and Leadership Director

elfrida.hamilton-russell@ukgbc.org

This programme is supported by teams of external experts and member leaders. See who we have on board here.

With thanks to our strategic partners

And support from The University of Southampton

The post A Sustainable Built Environment through Systems Change – Part 2: Conference appeared first on UKGBC.

As part of UKGBC’s Resilience and Nature Programme, we are launching a project with the built environment industry to co-create a sector roadmap for climate resilience in the built environment. By developing science-driven, industry-wide targets to be achieved in the short, medium and longer term, this project could help to fill the urgent and critical gap identified by the CCC – investing in and optimising our built environment for a climate resilient future. This project will follow a similar path of UKGBC’s Whole Life Carbon Roadmap project which provided both the industry and government a common vision and agreed actions for achieving net zero carbon in the built environment.

At this in-person event, UKGBC’s newly appointed CEO, Smith Mordak, will introduce the scope, objectives and aims of this project and chair a panel discussion with experts on topic of climate resilience, followed by audience Q&A.

Who should attend? 

Built environment professionals with an interest in climate resilience and adaptation. Technical knowledge of climate resilience is not a requirement. 

Find out more about UKGBC’s work on Climate Adaptation here.

As the climate crisis intensifies and extreme weather events become more common, the UK’s buildings, cities and critical infrastructure, and the communities that use and occupy these, are in increasing danger. It’s vital to address how our buildings and infrastructure can be adapted to remain fit for the future.

View more

Resilience & Nature Partners

Our climate change adaptation work is supported by our Resilience & Nature Partners.

The post Building Climate Resilience in the UK Built Environment appeared first on UKGBC.

Similarly, the operation of existing non-domestic buildings is responsible for 23% of built environment emissions. Retrofitting our existing buildings without adversely increasing embodied carbon emissions is a key challenge we need to address in our transition to net zero. Our How Circular Economy Principles can impact carbon and value report explored the opportunities circular economy design principles can offer to reduce whole life carbon, and how this can be valued in built assets.

To bring to life the opportunities and lessons learned from a recent pilot project that explored this challenge, UKGBC is hosting a site tour of CISL’s Entopia building – a case study featured in our report last year, targeting WELL Gold rating, BREEAM Outstanding, and EnerPHit Classic. 

Being joined by ISG and Architype the tour will include presentations from the design and delivery teams outlining the range of sustainability interventions introduced and key lessons learned, followed by post-tour refreshments and networking. 

Why attend? 

• Deepen understanding of how to retrofit non-residential buildings and minimise embodied carbon impacts
• Raise awareness of the value of circular design principles and whole life carbon reductions
• Explore solutions, challenges and lessons learned first-hand from the design and delivery teams
• Network with fellow built environment professionals

Who should attend? 

Built environment professionals focused on the retrofit and/or the fit-out of commercial buildings who are looking to include circular design principles in their work and reduce whole life carbon emissions. 

The post Commercial Retrofit and the Circular Economy – Site Tour of the Entopia Building, Cambridge appeared first on UKGBC.

Strengthening the UK’s climate resilience requires a collaborative approach between numerous actors in the built environment that is underpinned, crucially, by government support. The UK Climate Resilience Programme sought to boost the UK’s climate resilience, working to bring together fragmented climate research and expertise to support UK government decision making.

Now that the Programme has come to an end and its projects continue to bear fruit, what solutions and learnings can we takeaway to ensure our built environment is fit for the future?

The UK Climate Resilience Programme

Running 2019 – 2023, the UK Climate Resilience Programme (UKCRP) was an interdisciplinary research programme led jointly by University of Leeds and The Met Office and funded by the Strategic Priorities Fund of UKRI. The programme sought to quantify the UK’s climate risk and build its resilience, producing outputs that inform and support UK government’s decision making on this topic. Themes included understanding the risks to the UK, how to communicate and manage the risks, and how to work with organisations to develop suitable climate services.  

While the UKCRP explored a variety of sectors, there were notable learnings for the built environment industry specifically. Below details a handful of relevant projects, but the full list can be found here.  

Key learnings

Next steps

UKCRP identified a number of research gaps that need to be explored going forward:

1. The need for increased collaboration between sectors and society for challenge-focused research.
2. Further developing the resilience community’s boundary spanning skills to ensure useful and usable outputs as good adaptation research often requires skills that go beyond a single discipline.
3. Expanding and applying techniques and approaches developed in the programme to additional locations, situations and risks.
4. Generating a better understanding of how risks can be reduced through resilience building and adaptation.  

To date, there hasn’t been any suggestion that there will be further funding for UKCRP part 2, but the legacy of the programme will continue through the funded projects’ successes. The UK Climate Change Committee has already started planning for the next climate change risk assessment, and it is hoped that much of the learning from the programme can inform this process. Also, it is hoped that tools, data and knowledge from the programme will be used to help support the recently published National Adaptation Programme.

UKGBC recognizes the crucial role of academic research in increasing thorough understanding, and providing pioneering solutions to gaps and challenges across different sustainability topics. UKGBC’s Academic Research Forum convenes academic members across our network to share insights on research, gaps and future opportunities. UKGBC members are able to access exclusive content on the insights from these forums, please get in touch to gain access. The next Forum will be On Tuesday 14^th November exploring research projects on the topic of hard to recycle materials. Sign up here. 

The UK built environment sector currently lacks the definitions and targets needed to become climate resilient by 2050. To address this, UKGBC is launching a Resilience Roadmap project aiming to scope and propose an industry wide collaborative project to set new climate resilience and adaptation targets for the sector. Applications to be involved in this project are now open. 

The post What learnings can we take from the UK Climate Resilience Programme? appeared first on UKGBC.

This event will discuss how built environment professionals can meet this challenge head-on, from the practical steps available to protect physical assets to optimising design for more frequent and severe weather.

UKGBC’s CEO, Smith Mordak, will chair a discussion of a senior expert panel to examine the localised context of climate resilience for Birmingham. Smith will also take the opportunity to introduce UKGBC’s ground-breaking project to co-create a Roadmap for greater climate resilience in the UK’s built environment.

Audience members will have the unique opportunity to hear expert perspectives on climate resilience, with a focus on local risks and solutions. After the panel discussion, the event will open out to questions from the audience, followed by networking.

Who should attend?

Built environment professionals based in Birmingham and West Midlands. Technical knowledge of climate resilience is not a requirement. 

Find out more about UKGBC’s work on Climate Adaptation here.

As the climate crisis intensifies and extreme weather events become more common, the UK’s buildings, cities and critical infrastructure, and the communities that use and occupy these, are in increasing danger. It’s vital to address how our buildings and infrastructure can be adapted to remain fit for the future.

View more

Resilience & Nature Partners

Our climate change adaptation work is supported by our Resilience & Nature Partners.

The post Building Climate Resilience in Birmingham appeared first on UKGBC.

Under the UK government’s 25-year Environment Plan, new legislation within England will require all new development to provide a biodiversity uplift of a minimum of 10%, with use of the Defra BNG metric. This legislation is expected to come into force in November 2023, and will need to be considered by all stakeholders in the built environment from designers and architects to financial institutions and property consultants.

UKGBC believes the protection and enhancement of nature is an essential and has therefore formed a cross-industry task group of experts to support the creation of new outputs related to Biodiversity Net Gain. This has so far resulted in the publications of key definitions and factsheets.

In addition to this, UKGBC also has a Solutions & Innovation workstream which seeks to identify and share solutions to common sustainability challenges in the built environment. This has lead to the formation of UKGBC’s Solutions Library and our ever-expanding community of innovative start-up members.

These two teams are collaborating on this webinar to showcase some of the innovative tools available to support built environment practitioners in achieving BNG on projects. A list of these tolls and the agenda will be released nearer the time.

Why attend?

• Understand some of the BNG Tools available that can help support you on projects
• Have the opportunity to ask follow-up questions directly to solution providers
• Learn about BNG and some of the considerations required

Who should attend?

Built environment professionals looking to understand tools available for helping support BNG on projects. You do not need to be an expert on BNG to attend.

The post Innovation Showcase: Tools to Support Biodiversity Net Gain appeared first on UKGBC.

This event will discuss how built environment professionals can meet this challenge head-on, from the practical steps available to protect physical assets to optimising design for more frequent and severe weather.

UKGBC’s CEO, Smith Mordak, will chair a discussion of a senior expert panel to examine the localised context of climate resilience for Manchester. Smith will also take the opportunity to introduce UKGBC’s ground-breaking project to co-create a Roadmap for greater climate resilience in the UK’s built environment.

Audience members will have the unique opportunity to hear expert perspectives on climate resilience, with a focus on local risks and solutions. After the panel discussion, the event will open out to questions from the audience, followed by networking.

Who should attend?

Built environment professionals based in Manchester. Technical knowledge of climate resilience is not a requirement. 

Find out more about UKGBC’s work on Climate Adaptation here.

As the climate crisis intensifies and extreme weather events become more common, the UK’s buildings, cities and critical infrastructure, and the communities that use and occupy these, are in increasing danger. It’s vital to address how our buildings and infrastructure can be adapted to remain fit for the future.

View more

Resilience & Nature Partners

Our climate change adaptation work is supported by our Resilience & Nature Partners.

The post Building Climate Resilience in Manchester appeared first on UKGBC.

Climate risk assessments identify the climate risks, determine the potential impact of these risks, and develop strategies to mitigate and adapt to them. However, conducting an effective climate risk assessment requires a well-defined methodology that takes into account the unique challenges posed by climate change.

The Framework

Acknowledging this gap, the UK Green Building Council launched ‘A Framework for Measuring and Reporting of Climate-related Physical Risks to Built Assets’ in February 2022. The framework seeks to assist asset owners and organisations in preparing for and responding to the impacts of climate change and is an essential first step towards addressing physical risks from climate change within the industry.

The launch of the framework was paired with the ‘Physical Risk Labs’ to discuss and monitor early projects that were utilising it. This was to test stress and highlight any difficulties when using it in practice. Hydrock were a contributor to the ‘Physical Risk Labs’ as project partners with the University of Nottingham (UoN). UoN appointed Hydrock to undertake a climate risk assessment and provide adaptation recommendations for the university’s assets at Jubilee Campus, which included 30 buildings and 14 infrastructure assets.

The framework methodology follows a five-step process and recommends a number of tools and datasets that could be used within risk assessments such as the UK Climate Projections 2018 (UKCP18) dataset, the UK Climate Risk Indicators map and Environmental Agency flood mapping. The primary data used within our assessment was the UKCP18 data.

Observed Limitations

The assessment process highlighted a number of limitations that could lead to challenges and potential inconsistencies between climate risk assessments conducted across the industry when assessing the future risk from physical hazards. The most fundamental limitations identified were:

• A lack of industry-wide defined thresholds for level of risk for each physical climate hazard.
• Insufficient easily accessible datasets that are appropriate for detailed asset level climate risk assessments.

Out of the 9 physical hazards assessed at Jubilee Campus at least 4 were difficult to quantify and provide an accurate level of risk.

Out of the 9 physical hazards assessed at Jubilee Campus at least 4 were difficult to quantify and provide an accurate level of risk.

Take wildfire for example. The UKGBC rightly details it as in its infancy for assessments, with the framework recommending the use of the Met Office’s UK Fire Severity Index (FSI). This index assesses how severe a fire could become if one were to start, but not the risk of it occurring. The FSI is also limited to a five-day forecast, which is unsuitable for long-term climate risk assessments. There are other wildfire risk indicators available through the UK Climate Risk Indicators tool, however, similar difficulties arise when using them to quantify wildfire risk at asset level.

When looking at the other physical hazards the same ambiguity was observed. The data required for wind and storm events for instance was caveated in UKCP18 probabilistic data due to it not passing the Met Office’s credibility checks. Until an alternative data set or methodology is made available, assessing the worst case risk of future wind and storm events on assets is frankly inaccurate at best.

The most prevalent physical hazard in the industry is heat stress, for which there is ample guidance available. The framework suggests the use of CIBSE TM52/59 terminology or degree days to evaluate the possibility of heat stress. However, the framework stops short of prescribing specific thresholds for assessing the outputs of the analysis and determining the level of risk. For instance, if a building is halfway towards failing CIBSE TM52/59, does it pose a medium risk? Similarly, it is unclear how many cooling-degree days correspond to a low, medium, or high-risk level.

Limitations were also seen when using the UKCP18 data for the assessment (the preferred source for future climate data in the UK). Although an extremely in-depth and useful data set, acquiring data with a granularity relevant to an asset-level climate risk assessment proved more onerous than one would hope.

Via the UKCP18 dashboard daily data is only available for a single representative concentration pathway (RCP^*) instead of all 4 included within the framework. The remaining data must therefore be found elsewhere. In our case, we utilised the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA) archive to find data suitable for the assessment.

Call to Action

We need the relevant industry stakeholders to come together now to agree on a standardised methodology for determining the thresholds of physical hazards and what specific datasets are to be used.

Climate adaptation is critical. Action must be taken to ensure climate risk assessments can be conducted effectively. We need the relevant industry stakeholders to come together now to agree on a standardised methodology for determining the thresholds of physical hazards and what specific datasets are to be used. This requires a collaborative effort between industry bodies, engineers, academics, and experts in climate science and risk management.

The thresholds should be based on latest research and available data, taking into account industry practices already in place where applicable, to construct well-founded thresholds that can be utilised across the UK. The data selection process must also be refined. As mentioned, there are several derived data sets available in the CEDA archive that offer greater granularity and cover all RCP scenarios than more accessible UKCP18 data. However, if these are to be used, an industry-wide consensus is needed to specify which data sets should be utilised.

The above will help remove the ambiguity, creating a consistent approach for the industry to continue conducting climate risk assessments.

Regardless of the issues discussed, the framework is a comprehensive tool designed to help the built environment industry improve both its resilience and sustainability. With the framework, UKGBC is pushing the industry in the direction required to close the adaptation gap and make up for the previous decade of lost time. The physical labs and other consultations will help further refine the framework to continue being the industry standard for assessing climate-related physical risk to built assets.

*RCP – a future scenario of greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere, leading to different levels of climate change projected across 4 variables.

Hydrock are a UKGBC member and Resilience and Nature Programme Partner. Learn more about what it means to be a member and the opportunities it provides you here.

Interested in learning how to apply the Physical Risk Framework and Reporting Tool to your built assets? UKGBC’s new practical learning programme supports participants to create a physical risk assessment for their chosen asset, and the knowledge and skills to assess the risks to other assets in their portfolio. Find out more and register to join at this page.

Learn more in our Physical Risk Labs Compendium of Experience

To discover more about our partner’s journeys for reaching net zero, read our report summarising the experiences from our Physical Risk Labs.

Learn more

Climate Change Adaptation

As the climate crisis intensifies and extreme weather events become more common, the UK’s buildings, cities and critical infrastructure, and the communities that use and occupy these, are in increasing danger. It’s vital to address how our buildings and infrastructure can be adapted to remain fit for the future.

View more

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UKGBC’s Impact Report 22-23 documents the transformational impact our network had over a financial year with collaboration at its heart. Its the first of our Impact Reports to track our activities in line with our 2025 strategy and goals, with the aims pushing for climate action further and faster.

This financial year saw the launch of new opportunities for radical collaboration between our members, like the Collaboration Cafés and Local Authority Retrofit Forum, providing spaces and networks for knowledge sharing and problem solving. Circular Economy was central in this year’s Advancing Net Zero programme, with the release of two industry leading reports and a record number of individuals being involved in ANZ work. This financial year also saw us hit the milestone of 700 members, with over 9,000 active member contacts.

As the final year of Julie Hirigoyen’s leadership, it was a year where our industry and society at large grappled with the climate and ecological crises; epitomised by the reaction to the extreme heat of summer 2022. Progress is being made across the built environment, but we must take the impact from this year and accelerate it in both business and government if we are to avert climate and ecological breakdown.

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