Futurebuild 2022

Futurebuild 2022 by Sarah

in

I went to two talks on Retrofit, one short one on using timber effectively (a sales pitch by Ecosystem/Soprema), and a grandly named talk on the ‘future of building design’. I was hoping for more case studies, practical information, lessons learned etc..

 

NATIONAL RETROFIT STRATEGY

Speakers:            Sam Balch,Policy advisor at BEIS (Dpt of Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy)

                            Brian Berry, Chief Exec Federation of Master Builders

                            Russel Smith, MD Parity Projects

 

 

GETTING RETROFIT DONE

Speakers:             Kate Duffy, Head of Policy at BEIS (Dpt of Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy)

                             Kore Mason T&T and Ele George Energiesprong

 

 

USING TIMBER EFFECTIVELY

Speakers: MD from Soprema and Matt Stevenson from Ecosystems Tech

 

  • Soprema have a range of wood-based insulation products https://www.soprema.co.uk/en/gamme/insulation/pavatex

  • Ecosystems Tech use these products in their range of façade and roofing solutions which are suitable for both new build and retrofit. https://www.ecosystemstech.com/

  • They were the first to introduce the use of homegrown timber (grade C16+) in timber construction in the UK.

  • Their approach is BIO-OSM: biogenic based off-site manufacturing. Ie. offsite construction using wood-based materials.

  • The guy from Ecosystems Tech was the most convincing speaker I heard. Their stand was amongst the more interesting ones.

 

THE FUTURE OF BUILDING DESIGN

Speakers: Architect Peter Clegg of FCBS, and Engineer Hanif Kara of AKT II (of Foster/Bloomberg fame)

 

How does building design respond to climate and ecological emergency? Talks raised pretty common sense issues.

  • Consider embodied carbon and operational carbon

  • Peter Clegg called the LETI standard the new Bdg Regs (he didn’t actually clarify that that isn’t factually accurate!)

  • 4-storey buildings generally most efficient in terms of carbon use (I can’t remember if this is specific to operational or if it a combo of embodied and operational)

  • Be wary of assuming that CLT is always the best solution. CLT uses A LOT of timber. We can be more resource efficient than that.

  • They talked through a couple of schemes, but didn’t go into any detail and didn’t raise anything out of the ordinary

  • FCBS have developed a free tool to look at whole life carbon, as previously shared by someone in the office (can’t remember who!): https://fcbstudios.com/fcbscarbon

Futurebuild notes by Matt

in

Here is some of the interesting stuff from my Futurebuild visit.

 

Keynote Stage 2

Session Title: The LETI Client Guide: Supporting Clients Develop & Deliver on Net Zero Carbon

Presenter: LETI

Interesting points:

Not much new learning here as it was effectively a publication launch. This could be a useful document to share with clients who are interested in net zero as it is very accessible. https://www.leti.london/clientguide

 

Digital Impact Stage

Session Title: Proven methods for improving performance in the digital built environment

Presenter: Alison Nicholl, Head of Constructing Excellent, BRE

Interesting points:

It was a bit of a product overview of Urban XR which is AR software for constructing building models. There were also discussions with developers and consultants who use AR to design. Not massively relevant for our scale of projects but something like Google cardboard could be worth exploring for one off projects. https://arvr.google.com/cardboard/ https://urban-xr.com/

 

Digital Impact Stage

Session Title: The social housing challenge and how digital twins are presenting new solutions

Presenter: Bola Abisogun, Urbanis

Interesting points:

A really interesting presentation from a fantastic speaker. Looking at using digital twins and smart buildings to track maintenance issues etc for social housing. He is trying to establish a methodology for social housing data management which is standardised and open platform so everyone can see the issues in real time. Building logs would also be stored on the blockchain so data cannot be lost or meddled with. I will try and share the slides for this one when they become available.

 

Keynote Stage 1

Session Title: Now is the time for timber

Presenter: Andrew Orriss, COO of Structural Timber Association

Interesting points:

Some really interesting information about ongoing fire tests on CLT. It seems the testing process is currently underway so hopefully once they have proven compliance with various standards CLT will be more widely used as a product. https://www.structuraltimber.co.uk/sectors/clt-special-interest-group

Futurebuild notes by James

in ,

Generally, really useful to see some new products and services on show, with some interesting discussion topics in between.

 

Innovation stage

Session Title: Generation Zero – Natural timber solutions for retrofit and newbuild.

Presenter: Matt Stevenson of Eco System Technologies

Interesting points: In partnership with GenZero, they are working with the DFE to deliver healthier atmospheres within schools, through sustainable modular design.

They offer the use of natural materials in a controlled environment, which can reduce waste, maximise recycling and potential re-use potential.

The use of timber in buildings provide good quality environments that are better for health and promote well-being.

 

Digital Impact stage

Session title: The new Breeam Platform; data driven whole life performance.

Presenter: Dr Shamir Ghumra, Head of building performance services

Interesting points: Bre are diversifying to add useful interactive data systems to aid Breeam assessors, manufacturers, and clients during the assessment process.

One example being greater engagement and assurances for manufactures during the product development stages, this avoids unnecessary abortive work.

 

Keynote Stage 2

Architects Climate Action Network (ACAN) Natural Materials WG: Natural materials in practice

Passivhaus Talk 1 by Paper igloo Director, Mhairi Grant, Director.

This was a Self-build home she built with her partner, which is called Ostro Passivhaus, near Stirling.

There was a constant use of timber throughout the building, it was described as a ‘box within a box’ as the ‘inner box’ contains all the services and circulation and serves the surrounding spaces.

The home achieved passivhaus certification and technical standard section 7; sustainability gold level.

Pasivhaus Talk 2 by Architype director, Ben Humphries.

Hackbridge Primary School, Sutton, London.

Situated next to an area of metropolitan open land and the BedZED eco-village, this offered an obvious opportunity for the architect to use natural, low-embodied carbon materials.

They adopted a timber-based palette, birch-faced plywood linings, a ‘Larsen truss’ timber frame with wood fibre insulation and sweet chestnut cladding (due to its long lifespan, reducing replacement costs).

He identified the use of pvc in schools (and generally) as being an awful crime, due to the emissions of VOCs. It’s too easily chosen for trunking to conceal services (instead they chose to use plywood, which I thought was neat).

He finished with a statement ‘If you don’t need a material, don’t use it’.

Architype are also carrying out post occupancy studies to monitor improved health and wellbeing at the school to gather feedback. They are already working other schools where they are improving performance and are always looking at other bio-based materials.

Futurebuild 2022 review by Martina

in

ACAN

The Architects Climate Action Stand had some interesting alternative structural construction materials in 1:1 scale detail models. I was unable to catch anyone for a chat but here’s their website info for reference: https://www.architectscan.org. I’ve added my pictures for interest to this blog.

NET ZERO + NATURAL MATERIALS - Keynote Stage 2

TIMBER ACCELERATOR HUB (TAH) – Joe Giddings Project Director The Alliance for Sustainable Building Products https://asbp.org.uk/

Funded by Louders (?) Foundation, Timber Development UK, Swedish Woods and other partners.

Set up to investigate the major challenges and barriers that mass timber is facing in the UK. These preventing the wider uptake of this set of products.

 Challenges          1. INSURANCE - Construction insurance on site & Building insurance for the completed asset.

                            2. FIRE - Building regulations and fire safety

TAH Ambition: to establish a network of different stakeholders seeking to address these challenges in their field and then to enable a cross industry collaborative approach, identify any gaps and to develop solutions to overcome the challenges to enable a wider use of mass timber. (Mass Timber: refers to the group of products CLT, GLT, DLT, LVT – any layered laminated timber system)

TAH – Have run a number forums on topics including:

  1. How to design mass timber high rise buildings

  2. Fire Safety in mass timber buildings

  3. Repairability and Durability

They have a number of topics coming up too. Developers Working Group could be something we might want to be a part of in some sort of way as they convey the problems developers are facing and are exploring a best practice rulebook for mass timber office design and good detailing.

Also quite interesting – as a result of the this networking, a group of developers have been exploring ‘an alternative risk transfer vehicle’ – forming an insurance company in order to avoid the expensive traditional insurance market.

Part of the Governments Net Zero strategy was to establish a policy working group for timber in construction and the increase in timber usage. TAH are informing the process with industry knowledge share and looking to inform the government policy. 

Further Reading:

I found this when I was looking back at my notes which I found interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sQQAC9EgXI

G&T’s Mass Timber Office Forum

INSULATION: Natural Fibre Insulation Group – Mark Lynn

Natural Fibre Insulation is currently 1% of the UK market, in contrast to France and Germany at 10% and growing. Verified EPD list for natural fibre brands to be published on the ASPB website. (e.g. Therma fleece)

Typical Natural Fibres & Embodied Carbon: Hemp, wood fibre, sheep’s wool, straw, flax – cellulose, demi – cellulose, lignan, keratin is 50% bio genic carbon equivalent to 180% Co2.  1kg of natural fibre sequesters about 2kg of Co2. Bio genic carbon very good mechanism for offsetting energy to allow the building fabric to act as a caron store in the same way timber does. Something in the UK that’s not given much value to in contrast to France for example, where they are adopting a dynamic LCA approach and value to the biogenic carbon. There is a big driver for natural materials in construction. If regulation doesn’t drive this in the UK then perhaps the market will drive this way.

Indoor air quality & Humidity Regulation: breathability provides a mechanism to get rid of a residual amount of moisture. (Kingspan said breathability was irrelevant because 90% of moisture in a building is removed through ventilation. But what about the other significant 10% mass of water?) Natural fibres adjust their moisture content in balance with humidity and the surrounding air. When the surround air drops, humidity increases and the fibres essentially suck the moisture out of the air and are constantly pulling the air away from the dew point as temperature drops.

Thermal performance: higher k values than PIR/PUR. To achieve like-for-like U-Values, Natural Fibre Insulation requires a thicker building fabric.

A good insulation to use in retrofitting in terms of improving existing building performance. A key indicator is the energy usage data to compare savings.

Phase shift: This is the natural fibre insulation thermal mass – when heat penetrating the building fabric during peak periods doesn’t reach the internal space until +- 12 hours after the peak heat.

Further reading: https://asbp.org.uk/group/natural-fibre-insulation

THE HEALTH AND CARBON BENEFITS OF NATURAL PAINTS – Anton Boekhoudt , National Architectural Business Development Manager, Keim Mineral Paints.

 Interesting conversation around the application of natural paints. Particularly in regard to breathability of buildings. Interesting example about usage in existing buildings i.e. damp basement covered in layers of plastic based paints that dried out once removed and a natural paint applied.

BARCHAM

I also listened in on a Barcham talk with an invited landscape designer who talked through some interesting streetscape projects that were proven to improve biodiversity, wellbeing, safety and security whilst connecting the residents to nature in a densely populated and built up area. Made me think we could apply some of these concepts to our projects i.e. Hales Farm (client willing) where we have shared pedestrian and vehicle surfaces.

I’ve picked up two of their guides regarding Species Selections for developments as well as a Planting Guide. There’s some great details and illustrations and it might be useful for any personal projects.

SUMMARY

I spoke to a few specialists in MMC which was informative, however I was disappointed there wasn’t more conversation around manufacturing, material selection, performance, embodied energy. I felt maybe some of the talks were slightly generic and ‘buzz-wordy’, but overall a good opportunity to see what innovation was going on in the UK.