Ahead of the UN Conference on Climate Change (Cop26) – to be held in Glasgow from 31 October to 12 November 2021, Mace - in partnership with the North West Construction Hub and Manchester City Council - held a webinar on 15 July 2021 entitled ‘Meeting the Climate Emergency Challenge in the Built Environment’.
The virtual event discussed how local authorities and public sector organisations can address the climate emergency and achieve Net Zero emissions by 2050 while providing essential services in local communities. CSIC director, Dr Jennifer Schooling, was part of the expert panel, comprising Dave Wakelin (Sustainability Operations Director, Mace), Jared Allen (Director of Capital Programmes, Manchester City Council) and Charmaine Hughes (Head of Frameworks/Programme Manager of Capital Programmes, Manchester City Council).
Jennifer Schooling's contribution is at 35m 48sec
Dr Jennifer Schooling OBE, Director of CSIC, presented the new Carbon Reduction Code for the Built Environment, which was launched on 17 June 2021. She said: “The Code for the Built Environment is very much focused on the physical asset base. There are other things that cities and communities have to grapple with; the built environment doesn't exist in isolation.” She acknowledged the UK government’s target of Net Zero by 2050 was a positive step, but also expressed challenges to deliver it due to current carbon emissions being so high. Dr Schooling recognised the role of technology to assist in reaching this goal, but emphasised that behaviour change was also necessary, including influencing people at a professional level, and making a difference “through our jobs as well”.
Caroline Lassen, Mace’s Director for Government and Housing, hosted the event and introduced the expert speakers, who shared their strategies and experiences of carbon reduction projects and initiatives. She acknowledged the challenge faced by organisations: “Addressing the climate change at pace is the challenge of our generation. Three-quarters of local authorities in England have declared a climate emergency, but they are at different places in tackling it, with all organisations across the public sector being asked to do more with less.”
Dave Wakelin, Mace’s Sustainability Operations Director, expressed the company’s commitment to champion the global climate action agenda, which has come to prominence in the past four years due to community activism and extreme weather such as flooding and wildfires. He said: “It’s imperative of all of us to take some action because ultimately it's going to affect our quality of life.” There is an urgent need to act quickly and control emissions in new buildings, which are responsible for about 30-40% of all global CO2 emissions, while delivering carbon savings across existing assets. Behavioural change through community programmes is also important because occupants have an impact on energy inefficiencies and waste.
Jared Allen, Director of Capital Programmes, Manchester City Council, talked about the Council’s journey towards carbon reduction. The Council endorsed an action plan in 2020, overseen by a strategic group that included the Deputy Chief Executive and the City Treasurer. Changes were made in the procurement system, trying to influence suppliers and people they got in touch with through their investments. “We were successful in leveraging about 78 million pounds worth of investments […] on top of that, we also invested around 90 million in decarbonisation elements.” Investments allowed changing all the street lights into LEDs, creating energy savings. However he recognised that there are big shortfalls in local authority funding across the UK.
Some of the participants were part of the Carbon Reduction Code Working Group. Karen Alford, Flood and Coastal Risk Manager for the Environment Agency, said that the Agency issued a carbon calculator around 10 years ago, which had a global take-up. However, moving from “measurement to constructive action” requires giving people the right knowledge and insights so organisations can make informed decisions. She concluded: “We've got to ensure that we have a constructive evidence-based way of making our decisions that puts carbon and Net Zero into the heart of it.”
Charmaine Hughes, Head of Frameworks/Programme Manager of Capital Programmes at Manchester City Council, talked about the Council’s pilot of the Code. The city’s “capital programme is extensive: schools, leisure centres and housing - new buildings and refurbishment projects. We need to look at our future construction pipeline with a different lens,” she said. She added that it was imperative to build more sustainably and early planning of all the stages was crucial, especially since carbon emissions not only come from materials, but also from transportation, the building process and the operation of a building. She concluded that carbon mitigation can be expensive and public bodies need to develop a funding strategy through sourcing and reallocating funds while improving capital spend.