Start local, think global — delivering net-zero town centres is the essential first step in helping people decarbonise their wider community, explains Andrea Arnall, director of planning at Turley
Modern and historical town centres across the UK have persistently played a central role in developing and expanding local communities. As the central ‘beating heart’ of local economies, their design and infrastructure have often been driven by a desire to optimise the trade and consumption of goods and services.
As a result, most town centres have become a hub of highly carbon-intensive activity, a reality no longer congruent with the UK government’s broader pledge to decarbonise the UK economy and reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Achieving the net-zero target by 2050 will require an unprecedented societal transformation. Much of our vital infrastructures on which town centres are built – such as our energy, transportation, and utility networks – are responsible for a significant proportion of the UK’s emissions.
At Turley, we see how the net-zero drive has inspired many clients to consider how new developments or existing assets can contribute to the transition. However, tackling the climate emergency will require the delivery of a broader net-zero action plan for town centres far more significant than any single group could provide.
How towns can tackle the climate emergency
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Transportation Networks
One of the biggest challenges facing cities and town centres across the country is the carbon emissions from transport networks. Delivering net-zero town centres will move away from private car dependency and encourage lower-carbon alternatives (i.e., cycling, walking, buses, trams, rail and even e-scooters).
Such a transition will be an insurmountable challenge without focused investment in public transport and active travel infrastructure, making the transition more accessible and easier for the community to widely adopt.
Ultimately, the shift toward new mobility options can take time to realise, and it is essential to avoid alienating community members from town centres with rapid developments. In some cases, lighter intermediary measures can ensure everyone is brought along on the journey to net-zero together.
For instance, if people are reluctant to part with using private cars as a mode of transportation, local authorities could respond by implementing ultra-low emission zones to encourage people to swap to lower emission vehicles. An acceleration could then follow this in promoting the public’s uptake of new electric cars and ensuring a more comprehensive provision of public EV charging spaces in town centres.
2. Development of Homes and Buildings
Undoubtedly, the development of new housing in town centres will play a role in reducing carbon emissions from the current transportation network.
Through the development of high-quality homes built within close proximity of town centres, there is the potential to reduce the need for using private cars and maximise the viability of town centres by increasing regular footfall. However, delivering net-zero town centres will require an upheaval in our current approach to development as a significant amount of the UK’s carbon emissions arises from the construction, maintenance, and running of buildings and homes.
Given that the production of concrete and steel for use in construction already accounts for around 16% of global CO2 emissions, it will be crucial that we not only consider the value of low carbon alternative construction materials but also that we refocus on adapting existing buildings rather than a carbon-intensive demolition approach to urban development.
Even when working within the confines of existing structures, we have seen the transformative change that regeneration projects can have on town centres while producing far less carbon.
3. Greater Energy Efficiency
The current energy crisis has prompted a renewed effort to understand how best to implement more energy-efficient measures for private homes and commercial buildings alike, a crucial step in creating net zero town centres.
For housing, the retrofitting of existing homes and the development of more energy-efficient housing stock will be an essential investment on the net-zero journey. To help reduce the emissions from heating, cooling, and powering buildings, the housebuilding industry must make concerted efforts to incorporate more alternative energy sources in their design to ensure town centres are less reliant on fossil fuels.
This might involve designing buildings capable of drawing on natural energy sources to regulate building temperatures through passive heating.
Ultimately, the biggest driver of zero-carbon buildings will be the switch away from fossil fuels to low carbon heating technologies, including heat pumps, low carbon heat networks, direct electric heating and emerging technologies such as hydrogen.
By raising building standards across the UK’s town centres for new construction, transitioning to an all-electric energy network and retrofitting buildings, tangible short-term reduction in carbon emissions can be secured for town centres across the UK.
4. The ’Green Reclaiming’ of Town Centre
Before the pandemic outbreak, towns and city centres were unquestionably built primarily for the purpose of shopping and work. However, with the widespread uptake of ‘working from home’ policies and the declining need for large retail floor space as consumers increasingly shop online, our town centres are faced with a real crisis of identity. However, we must embrace this disruption to rebuild and repurpose our expectation of town centres to better align with our net-zero transition.
During the depths of Covid lockdowns, many people began exploring and appreciating the limited access their town centres had to green spaces over empty non-essential retail shops and roads. Tree planting and the provision of more small-scale nature areas in town centres are promised in current development plans and even received specific funding in the last Budget.
As our appreciation of the outdoor grows, there is an opportunity for town centres to implement broader bio-diversity requirements to show that we have moved from mere mitigation of the impacts of climate change to improving the environment around us.
Tackling climate change requires collaboration
As town centres begin their journey towards net-zero, it is crucial that the opinions of the wider community are fully considered and that local authorities are given the necessary powers to design bespoke strategies for delivering the transition influenced by local needs. As custodians of town centres, local authorities have the challenge of leading the change to zero-carbon whilst still ensuring the strength of their community’s economic recovery; luckily, they are not alone in their ambitions.
More so than any other issue, tackling climate change obliges us to come together, share ideas, and communally reshape our behaviour. As centres of social, cultural, and commercial exchange, implementing carbon initiatives in town centres is the best place to start when your goal is to deliver net-zero communities.
The sustainability lessons learned, and benefits reaped in town centres will be noticed by all those who journey into them and hopefully inspire greater awareness around the urgency of this transition in homes across the UK and beyond.
Andrea Arnall
Director of planning
Turley
Twitter: @turleyplanning
Facebook: Turley Charitable Trust
LinkedIn: Turley
