2021 Eco Excellence Awards

BUILD Eco Excellence Awards 2021 12 Oct21079 Most Innovative Start-Up 2021 - UK In 2019, Tom Scott and Gilbert Lennox-King founded Construction Carbon with the idea of launching an app and providing a service to enable anyone undertaking a construction project to quickly estimate the level of carbon emissions at the design stage, consider more carbon efficient alternatives, offset residual emissions and communicate they have done this. Existing mechanisms were found to be too difficult and time-consuming. onstruction Carbon’s role within the construction sector is to be a tool used to drive down carbon emissions arising from embodied carbon during the construction process. Co-founders, Tom and Gilbert feel frustration at how little is being done to address embodied carbon – the production of materials, construction phase and dismantling of a building at the end of its life. For many years, both Tom, a chartered surveyor with a keen interest in sustainable property, and Gilbert, an entrepreneur specialising in sustainability businesses within the built environment, have questioned the levels of emissions linked to the construction process. It seems nonsensical that if a completed building has a net positive contribution to the electrical grid, and is net carbon positive in operation, it does not matter if the construction materials come from coal fired factories on the other side of the world. At the start of 2019, the pair began having conversations with developers and contractors who wanted to address lowering their emissions. Tom explains, “Initially, I was trying to help my clients find organisations offering a carbon calculation service, but there seemed to be a gap in the market.” During lockdown, many construction sites shut down, so the business partners were able to dedicate time to researching the market further. They began developing a system to reduce embodied carbon which would be backed by local authorities and financial institutions. In addition to the app, Construction Carbon’s package provides final certification to show a building project has assessed, reduced and scored its embodied carbon and offset residual upfront emissions. The way it works: • Construction Carbon arranges for a Whole Life Cycle Carbon Assessment of the building project. This ensures that carbon emissions from each stage have been considered and reduced as far as possible at the design stage. • Construction Carbon monitors the construction process and revisits the assessment at the ‘as built’ stage before offsetting residual upfront emissions. • Construction Carbon issues a net zero certificate with a ‘construction carbon score’ based on new industry benchmarks. • The building can finally be considered net zero at the point of practical completion. Gilbert and Tom are a strong team with the perfect credentials to take C this on. They have identified how to make it work. They feel that at present, very little is being done altruistically to reduce carbon as a result of construction, and that existing carbon certification schemes are more of a box-ticking exercise. Interestingly, the dialogue around embodied carbon, especially with the introduction of the LETI benchmarks, is beginning to change. This brings a level of transparency to the process that was not previously there. If you are a developer who has given no consideration to your embodied carbon emissions, you are taking a huge risk as these benchmarks are only going to become more visible with consumers, financiers and local authorities. Construction Carbon is regulated by RICS and is a member of the UK Green Building Council. It is supported by leading experts in the field and delighted to be backed by London’s Centre for Climate Change Innovation. This new initiative of the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London and the Royal Institution aims to catalyse innovation of all forms that address the causes and effects of climate change. It is backed by six founding members: Arup, the Mayor of London, HSBC UK, Centre for Net Zero, Pollination, and Slaughter and May. Additionally, the company has B-Corporation pending status. These corporations are a new kind of business that balance purpose and profit. They are legally required to consider the impact of their decisions on their workers, customers, suppliers, community and the environment. This is a community of leaders driving a global movement of people using business as a force for good. Presently, Construction Carbon is offering its services to the UK, although it has taken on board one of Europe’s largest commercial property developers. In future, the company hopes to work with developers of all shapes and sizes all over the world alongside leading experts in the industry. ‘Construction Carbon app’ will be available during Q1 of 2022 Company: Construction Carbon Ltd Contact: Tom Scott and Gilbert Lennox-King Email: [email protected] / [email protected] Website: www.constructioncarbon.co.uk