Last Friday, I enjoyed attending another inspiring Better Homes conference organized by the Irish Green Building Council. The event focused on innovation and the financing needed to address climate mitigation and adaptation. While it provided sobering insights into areas that require improvement, it also offered reasons for optimism and called for action.
Moving beyond traditional carbon accounting—which we are only beginning to grasp—and instead considering the broader social and environmental costs of construction and other activities seems to be the biggest challenge. But there are many other, like addressing the end-of-life management of buildings and materials, tackling the persistent overengineering of structures, improving circularity in construction, maximizing the utilization of existing buildings, and aligning planning and regulations to support these goals, as misaligned policies often hinder progress.
A recurring theme was the focus on verifying building design performance in terms of quality, health impacts, and energy use. Strengthening the link between performance and value is essential, and financing must be tied to actual outcomes. But we should start with the "elephant in the room"—the subpar quality of many buildings—which needs to be addressed first.
A dual approach—top-down leadership combined with bottom-up efforts—is vital for a meaningful impact. The UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard adopted this strategy, aligning the Whole Life Cycle carbon accounting with the UK's carbon budget and considering the actual performance data.
Speakers emphasized the benefits of the Passive House standard, which provides a robust framework for creating healthy, high-performance homes with built-in verification from start to finish. Passive House has taken off on a large scale in Ireland, with several multi-family developments underway. There is no reason this approach could not become mainstream for new construction.
Construct Innovate, which enables collaboration between the construction industry and academia, has already launched multiple research and testing projects focused on issues like timber use, modern methods of construction (MMC), embodied carbon, and deep renovation.
All in all, while progress is apparent, embracing the full scale of change that is required remains critical.
#BetterHomes2024 #collaboration #innovation
