London Build Expo 2021: Key Takeaways

Here is our quick sum-up of the main takeaways London Build Expo 2021 – Sustainability Summit.

London Build Expo 2021 is the UK’s leading construction and design show held at the Grand Hall at Olympia London on 17th and 18th November 2021. London Build is widely viewed as one of the best & largest construction exhibitions in the world and it features: 500+ speakers across 6 conference theatres with a 50% representation of female speakers, 220+ CPD sessions, 100’s of exhibitors, exclusive free-to-attend networking events, celebrity guests and much more.

The Sustainability Stage at the London Build Expo attracts thousands of sustainability professionals from across the UK to learn of the latest developments, innovations and case studies from leading experts driving change across the industry.

Lessons learned from COP26

Upskilling & education. We need to ensure that everyone speaks the same language. There is a critical lack of capacity & knowledge and a visible skill gap in the industry as a whole. We can see a clear demand not just for educating the future generation of construction specialists that is already happening on the university level, but also for upskilling those who are already on the job. By informing them on what can be done to achieve the targets set at COP26 with the use of new materials and technologies.

Collaboration, collaboration, collaboration. There is a desperate need for the joint effort & cooperation not only inside the building sector and between the industry & education, but outside the sector as well. Specifically collaboration with the technology companies that can help to bridge the gap between the state of things as they are and future projections set during the conference. 

The ever growing importance of transparency of information and continuous assessment of the environmental impact of the building industry. There is no point in reaching the set target and then forgetting about it all together – construction is literally ‘a growing business’, it never stops and it never should.

Action needed to reach the targets of COP26

Keynote session of the Sustainability Summit – Whole Life Carbon Roadmap for UK Built Environment – A Sector-Wide Trajectory to Net Zero by 2050 – highlighted the growing need to quickly close the policy gap on Net Zero homes and embodied carbon. According to the report, the built environment is directly responsible for 25% of the total UK carbon footprint, and therefore it has a critical role to play in the national transition to Net Zero.

Key action items recommended by the GHC include:

• National infrastructure investment based on the net emissions impact 

• Nation-wide retrofitting of existing homes 

• Adoption of a design for performance approach to new buildings 

• Energy performance disclosure for non-domestic buildings 

• Whole life carbon measurements and agreed limits

And the biggest help with the required in-use energy disclosure and adherence to the newly introduced standards and regulations will have to be offered by the technology sector. 

A look ahead

Despite the fact that some of the projections might seem grim and some of the set targets – almost unachievable, there is a lot of hope on all levels of the construction industry.

As we know, ‘Necessity is the mother of invention’. After we set the target of 1.5 degrees that we simply can not miss, the united effort from all parts of the supply chain could be the only answer. From policy makers and local authorities to construction companies and technology providers – everyone must play their part in achieving a better future.

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