FOOTPRINT+ podcasts

Urbanest Battersea is the largest student living building designed to Passivhaus standards in Europe, the largest Passivhaus building in the UK and the eight largest in the world. Providing high-quality, energy efficient accommodation for 853 students it represents a significant achievement for client, design team and contractor. Passivhaus principles promise lower operational costs despite slight...

Learn how the team behind Britain’s first skyscraper lab is working towards achieving ambitious embodied carbon budgets. Currently under construction, One North Quay is 76,500m2 , >130m tower, which is set to become Europe’s largest commercial laboratory. Join the Client and the Design Team as they reflect on the project’s embodied carbon sustainability ambitions; how they have been realised to...

Explore how the Building Safety Act offers an unparalleled opportunity to deliver value and enhance social housing, particularly across the country’s 12,500 higher-risk buildings. Our expert speakers will delve into leveraging the Act to ensure best-practice fire and structural, while in parallel retrofitting to enable sustainable living standards that meet modern housing needs. Attendees will gai...

For communities to embrace net zero, they need to feel the direct benefits, and trust that the transition will have a positive impact on the places they live, work and play. UKGBC’s new Regenerative Places programme takes a place-based approach that explores how local stakeholders can co-create their own retrofit strategies, delivering broad 'regenerative' benefits to communities, strengthening cl...

The new headquarter for Unusual Rigging achieves a remarkable fusion of deep sustainability and employee wellbeing. Built to rigorous Passivhaus energy standards, the design goes further by using timber and bio-based materials to drastically cut embodied carbon while reducing running costs. Expanded solar power generation on-site means the building has an exceptionally low whole-life carbon footpr...

Brutalist buildings should be recognised for their potential. Aesthetically and structurally challenging to some, the key to unlocking this potential has common threads. Whitby Wood invite you to a breakfast briefing where we will explore the successful adaptation and revival of two distinct building typologies. Plant — the ‘hanging gardens of Basingstoke’ Formerly Mountbatten House, the original...

Balancing heritage conservation with carbon reduction is a challenge; one that was met with a pragmatic and intelligent response in the retrofit of The Waterman.  One of the largest heritage retrofits in Clerkenwell, The Waterman combines four industrial warehouses over 70,000 sqft into a single, modern-day workspace with distinct character. The buildings have been extensively retrofitted, resulti...

The UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard is seeking to define what "net zero" really means for buildings and portfolios in the UK. But what will this look like in practice for different stakeholders? This panel will explore how responsibilities for achieving net zero are likely to be shared across owners, landlords, tenants, and investors. Panelists bring a range of perspectives—from legal and ca...

The widespread adoption of green technologies, including solar energy and other renewable solutions, raises important questions about labour rights and exploitation in global supply chains. This session will address the relation between net-zero technologies and ethical labour practices, revealing the hidden realities of labour exploitation in the renewable energy sector. Adam Whitfield and Emma-J...

Closed loop recycling of end-of-life building glass rarely happens, with most glass manufacturers declaring less than 1% post-consumer content in their new glass. Most of this glass follows a linear process: crushed together with other building materials, put into landfills or recovered to low grade fill applications. As we consider strategies for combatting embodied emissions and creating a circu...

JLL’s new HQ at 1 Broadgate began with an ambition to radically reduce both embodied and operational carbon, while embedding circularity at the core of a major workplace project. From the outset, the team set out to push whole life thinking across procurement, urban mining, circular design, material passporting, and future reuse potential. Applying circular principles at scale revealed the scale o...

The heat network sector is undergoing a major transformation. The Government has ambitious plans to grow the sector as a low carbon form of heating and wants to introduce zoning in England where new and existing buildings within zones will be required to connect to heat networks. Our expert panel will share their experiences of delivering heat networks, and explore the impact of zoning and of new...

Explore how vertical extensions can unlock new potential in existing buildings through real-world case studies such as HYLO, the Mary Ward Centre, and 1 Appold Street. Learn from IStructE's expert panel, who will discuss the benefits and complexities of building upward, including the importance of establishing the right vision for the project brief, assembling the right team, and engaging the engi...

Indoor air quality has been proven to impact occupant health and well-being in a wide range of settings. In schools there has been increased attendance and achievement and in healthcare patient outcomes are improved. Within office and workplaces air quality monitoring can offer: the opportunity to refine building heating strategies and cut energy usage feedback on operating practices and how to mo...

Scope 3 emissions reporting can be challenging, but could widespread Whole Life Carbon Assessments (WLCAs) make the process easier? With a range of industry voices including UKGBC, Part Z and IStructE calling for regulations to mandate whole life carbon assessments, this session will explore how the industry can utilise and optimise emissions reporting. In particularly, panellists will discuss: Ho...

Social value delivers public benefit while tapping into the skillset of the development industry. What place has social value in property? With different approaches from three developers, this presentation will discuss both direct and tangential benefits of social value creation. Is social value the new philanthropy and could it signal a change to S106 contributions? Chairperson Chris Bowie-Hill,...

There are growing regulatory and commercial risks associated with older, less energy-efficient buildings. Over 70% of the UK’s commercial stock was built before 2000 so a huge proportion of buildings will require retrofitting to meet Net Zero goals.  Building on the industry-led work by the UKGBC Task Group, the panel will debate the successful delivery of net-zero focussed retrofits. Using analys...

This booming building typology has gone from strength to strength in the last few years, particularly following the pandemic, once everyone's awareness of health and wellbeing was heightened. Hear from some of the leading experts on how to balance the rapid expansion in this sector with the drive for Net Zero performance and wellness requirements for life sciences employees. Chairperson Rigas Mala...

Castleforge’s redevelopment in Golden Lane reimagines a heritage asset at the heart of the city.  Sustainability has been a key driver for the client with a variety of certifications undertaken and a desire to get the project recognized as Net Zero in Operation and Construction within the current UKGBC framework. Using Circular Economy principles has been key to minimising embodied carbon; there h...

Buildings and campus identity are a big consideration for students deciding where to study. Frequently new buildings are proposed, with designers selected through competition competing to develop modern state-of-the-art facilities. Higher Education is moving on from that model to give existing buildings and campuses a new lease of life. This approach retains and enhances the character of its campu...

Communities are coming together to change the places where they live for the better and to develop their skills, build their confidence and make new friendships. Enabling businesses to put their corporate responsibility strategies into action helps connect them with communities and helping them build social value into their services. In this session we hear from the groups, organisations, business...

Eden is an 11-storey office building in Manchester with a host of sustainability goals. This session will focus on the benefits of its living wall. Featuring 350,000 plants and 32 different species the system replaces regular cladding at a reasonable cost. Attracting birds, bees and bugs, it will provide a huge increase in biodiversity. The plants also remove air pollutants, reduce urban temperatu...

Our economies depend on the resources given to them for ‘free’ by nature and the environment. Construction activities are highly dependent on these resources. Increasingly, the international community is recognising the vital role of nature and biodiversity in tackling the climate challenge in a way that enables communities to thrive. This growing international focus on preserving and restoring na...

Regenerative construction is an approach to planning, design and construction that aims to create sustainable, resilient, and thriving communities. It goes beyond traditional sustainable development, beyond recycling and reuse, by focusing on restoring and replenishing ecosystems, enhancing social well-being, and fostering economic vitality. Success in regenerative construction is reliant on the v...

Construction projects have an immense capacity to drive change. As our sector’s interdependency with nature becomes more pronounced, how do we harness that capacity through procurement techniques? We hear from public sector construction stakeholders, who are involved in billions of pounds of construction output, how they use the procurement of construction activities to support the development of...