Reflections on Sustainable Design


Gordon Hudson, Independent Consultant, CIBSE Trainer & Northumbria University Lecturer, was asked to present a talk to the CIBSE North East Region on sustainable design, which made him think back to his early career and the evolution of sustainable design in the Building Services Sector.


"When I started in the Industry in the 1980s we had just had the “save it” campaign and it was about money but not really resources and pollution.  

 Delia Smith is shown in this video saving energy and money by cooking everything together(!)  
  

 The “save it” campaign was followed by the “Monergy“ campaign, again appealing to our economic interest rather than saving the planet.

 In the 1990s the issue of wider sustainable design emerged, and with it came tools such as BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method). I was interested in these tools a great deal as they hoped to create a market-led demand for sustainable design of buildings. 

 BREEAM in its early form was relevantly simple to administer and was meant to benchmark buildings, but it soon, as you would expect, created a situation where people were after a score, say “excellent” and would want to know the most financially efficient way of getting to it; so not so different from the 1980s. 

 The concurrent development of switching our focus to carbon rather than energy through the Building Regulations has further complicated the landscape of Building Services Design. 

 CIBSE publications, BREEAM and all the similar tools around the globe have tried to direct us to good, sustainable buildings and they are still developing and refining their approach.  

 I suspect we still have lots to do, with the newly emerging “healthy workplace” standards to be considered too, there is much to excite and challenge us."
CIBSE is currently creating a new training course in this area. If you would like to receive more information please email training@cibse.org.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Face-to-face or remote training?

Image
With the return to the office and the ‘new normal’ of hybrid working, we have seen the reintroduction of face-to-face training. However remote courses, which enable people to be trained virtually have remained popular, with people expecting both types of training to be available. For corporate training there is no extra travelling required by employees, for either face-to-face or remote training. You can choose your own date and time, and the content can be delivered in either format. So, what are the differences between the two learning options? Preference. The main criterium for choosing face-to-face or remote training is based on people’s concentration level, preferred style of interaction, the learning environment and their digital knowledge, or simply, some people just prefer one learning format to another. Focus. People’s attention span varies. Some people concentrate better when they have someone speaking physically in front of them, whilst others find it easier to follow if t
Read more

Embodied Carbon Award: A step towards net zero carbon

Image
Now in its 15th year, the CIBSE Building Performance Awards is the only awards scheme to celebrate the measured performance of projects and products in use while celebrating the engineering consultancies and manufacturers that are contributing to a low carbon future. Michael Lonsdale Group won the Embodied Carbon Award for its pioneering work with suppliers to create a database of low embodied carbon products that enable it to recommend low carbon building services systems to its clients.  We heard from Michael Lonsdale Group about what this award means to them: Caption: Senior Environmental & Sustainability Manager, Joanna Constandis (right) and Engineering Services Director, Paul Cornwell (left) collecting the Embodied Carbon Award at BPA2022. Industries and businesses throughout the globe have begun to show ownership of their environmental agendas. The significance of the topic has been realised, identifying the need for progress towards Net Zero Carbon. So, when Dame Jo da Silv
Read more

CIBSE Role Models - Emeka Efe Osaji

Image
The CIBSE Role Model series is intended to shine a spotlight on members of our building services community from under-represented groups and backgrounds to inspire and promote diversity amongst future engineers.  As part of our Role Model series this month, we speak to Emeka Efe Osaji a Teaching Fellow in Architectural Technology at the University of Salford, and Treasurer of the CIBSE Energy Performance Group. My name is Emeka Efe Osaji. Personally, I am a son, brother, husband, dad, uncle, nephew, cousin, in-law, and friend. Professionally, I am a Teaching Fellow in Architectural Technology at the University of Salford. I am lucky to be a 2nd-generation Academic, Researcher and Consultant. The steps taken by my parents and others have helped provide me with the right support network and prerequisite direction and clarity. I have kindly received recognition for my humble contributions, including in areas, such as: (1) Energy Certification Compliance Knowledge Transfer; (2) Teaching Ex
Read more