Do we need better data or knowledge about a certain aspect?

Exploring the use of low carbon concrete columns instead of steel ones.. Façade: Opportunities to improve the embodied carbon of facades, including finding alternatives to unitised and curtain walling systems, and their materiality.. Cladding: Elongating a material or components’ lifespan may increase the day one carbon but over the lifetime of the building the whole life carbon can be minimised, where replacement cycles are reduced.. Aluminium procurement: Minimising transport miles is important for materials.However, the country of origin is also important for materials and components which are heavily manufactured, such as curtain walling.

Sometimes the additional transport miles might offset the manufacturing emissions in counties with greener energy grids.. Substructure: Omitting basements should be the starting point of projects.. Raised floor: Reuse existing materials, both from demolition on site but also local existing buildings which are undergoing renovation or demolition.The industry needs to develop a material database to assist with this, but the more demand the quicker it will happen.. MEP: The LETI benchmarks are underestimated for high end offices.To meet the LETI benchmarks this means every other element in the building needs to perform better to offset the impact of MEP.

MEP calculations are still in their infancy compared with the rest of the building, meaning more research and data collection is required to create robust calculations and benchmarks.MEP has a short lifespan compared with other elements and as such it is even more important to consider the whole life impact of services, alongside the operational carbon impact..

At two thirds of the whole life carbon, embodied carbon is critically important within an office building.

Decisions made during early design stages should prioritise embodied carbon alongside design, function, and aesthetics..demonstrate Bryden Wood’s capability in providing specialist façade design and detailing services.

The St James Centre is a project which uses a natural stone façade.We are providing structural engineering design for all precast panels including the design of bracket connections as well as all stone design and detailing (partly handset and partly panelised).

We have led the interface detailing between the different façade packages and have carried out all the façade performance engineering and detailing, including: structural, thermal and condensation risk, waterproofing, air tightness, fire and acoustics.. We work with:.main contractors who are interested in innovation and exploring the benefits of alternative construction systems or DfMA conversions; and looking to de-risk certain packages, eg facades.