In this article, Antony Brophy, director of business development at Cobuilder UK, explains how implementing data technology in construction businesses can help the industry achieve net zero
Achieving net zero has become a top priority for construction companies. As part of a UK government strategy set out last year, all new buildings will be required to operate at net zero by 2030 – meaning the amount of carbon emissions associated with a building’s usage and construction stages must equal zero or negative.
However, there are some significant hurdles for the industry to overcome before it can achieve this aim. The global built environment is currently responsible for almost 40% of global energy-related carbon emissions and 50% of extracted materials, according to the World Green Building Council.
To get closer to carbon neutrality, organisations must pay careful attention to the environmental impact of the materials and products they are using along the construction value chain. Opting for materials that improve the performance and extend the lifespan of new buildings will be key to sustainable building practices.
Using EPD data to understand carbon emissions
Understanding the carbon emissions from a specific material or product involves continuous measurement throughout its lifecycle. This measurement needs to start right from the point of specification for building materials through their design, purchasing, manufacturing, distribution, and installation.
The assessment then needs to continue through to any maintenance, repair, reuse, and, finally, recycling of those materials.
This measurement has been made much easier by environmental product declarations (EPDs), which document the environmental impact that any product or material will have over its lifetime. The declarations enable architects and engineers to compare different materials before selecting the most sustainable option for a project.
They also help manufacturers to be more transparent about the carbon content of their products.
The data provided in EPDs must always be reliable and verifiable so needs to be organised and managed effectively throughout the construction process. The siloed approach towards data management traditionally taken by many in the construction industry makes this a hard task to achieve. Data is often held in different places and managed by people on many different levels – by project, department, and even country.
Taking a single-source approach to data
Single platform technology, through which all actors in the construction process can draw upon environmental information when designing a new building, is helping to speed up data management and break down existing silos.
To ensure that it offers a ‘single source of truth’, data in this platform needs to exist in a standardised format. For example, anyone involved in a construction project should be able to see all the properties that make up a piece of pipe, including the generic properties of size, area and volume, as well as its environmental properties, such as energy use and ozone depletion potential – based on the processes that have been used to create it.
Here, data templates can provide an easy means through which to exchange information about products and materials throughout the industry. They provide a framework within which to agree an approach to recording the defining characteristics of products and materials, according to both international and European data standards.
Data templates are already playing a key role in the digitalisation of the construction sector – and they have an equally important part to play in helping organisations to reach their sustainability objectives.
Creating a common digital language in construction to achieve net zero
By creating a common digital language to assess the performance of construction products, everyone involved in the design and build of new buildings can draw from a reliable source of information. Ultimately, this makes it easier for them to compare products and choose ones that help them to better achieve carbon neutrality.
Data is already playing a key role in helping construction become more advanced. As the industry looks to push forward on sustainability and reach the UK government’s 2030 net zero objectives, it will have an even bigger part to play. The focus needs to be not just on how it is leveraged, but also on how it is being managed.
