DAY 1 of the Futurebuild Conference 2023 will focus on Looking Forward to develop the foresight necessary to break out of our current mindset, for as William Catton has explained - “we tend to seek adaptation to the circumstances we presently confront, not the circumstances posterity will face.”
Edge Debate #137: 10.45 - 11.45
Big Energy Debate: 100% renewables are needed to reduce global heating
We once believed that fossil fuels were a wonderful thing for the human race and over the last 2-300 years, we indulged ourselves by drawing down the reserves that nature had laid down over millions of years before we, as a species, arrived. We call it coal, oil and gas ‘production’ but it has of course been ‘extraction’, claimed by us without charge. We have demanded that this free ‘bounty’ is as cheap as possible and we have been happily profligate in our use of it. Of course, nothing comes for nothing and the consequence has been an increase in atmospheric greenhouse gases and the heating of the earth itself, the results of which are now unfolding at a rapid rate.
What are the critical challenges we face going forward?
We must decarbonise our energy supply, re-organise and rebalance the grid, lower overall and manage peak demand and achieve greater energy efficiency across the board.
We have learnt the hard way to be aware and careful of where our energy is coming from and to take energy security seriously, with the ultimate goal of meeting our ‘reduced’ demand from clean and local sources, a goal that unfortunately may run counter to the operations of a free global energy market!
If our energy is to come almost entirely from renewable sources this has implications for all aspects of built environment professionals’ work in the construction industry and especially for materials, building performance, transport, and biodiversity
The window of opportunity for effective change is closing at speed and so we must make a rapid transition to a real green energy and net zero carbon future. As part of this transition, we need to be aware of the sources of and often lethal competition for critical materials such as rare earths for batteries, as their use will necessarily form an essential part of our strategy.
We are being told that, with some adjustments, we can continue with business as usual, just transitioning our energy sources but is this really the case?
Do we need to consider other measures such as carbon rationing if we are to live within an agreed carbon budget and stand a chance of limiting global heating to 1.5°C?
FUTUREBUILD PROPOSITION No 1:
We need to act now on a plan to make a rapid energy transition with a balanced decarbonised grid, demand reduction at scale and maximum energy efficiency. If so, what is our plan?
Chair: Fiona Harvey, Environment Correspondent, The Guardian
Energy producer – game changing, what are you doing?
Sam Gardner, Head of Climate Change & Sustainability, Scottish Power
How to make a rapid energy transition – what is the action plan to get there?
Libby Peake, Head of Resource Policy, Green Alliance
Energy economics: rationing, pricing, taxing?
Paul Ekins, Professor of Resources and Environment Policy Bartlett School Env, Energy & Resources, University College London
The role of the construction industry to increase energy efficiency
Helena Rivers, Director, AECOM and Vice President IMechE
Edge Debate #138: 12.00 –13.00
Facing challenges: Learning lessons, being prepared
In 2022 alone we have had the return of war to Europe, an ongoing pandemic, floods, drought, record breaking temperatures exposing the inadequacy of our buildings and the fragility of our urban environments as places in which people can be expected to live and thrive. It was a year in which energy shortages, rising energy costs, rampant inflation and food shortages revealed the narrow margins by which sections of society are living. We need to find solutions even while facing worker shortfalls and a planning system mired in uncertainty and change.
Can we learn from the events of last year and focus on the circumstances we are in, so that we are ready to act and do not just revert to ‘business as usual’?
FUTUREBUILD PROPOSITION No 2:
We must all learn the lessons and be better prepared – no excuses
Chair: Fiona Harvey, Environment Correspondent, The Guardian
Foresight and preparedness – what have we learned from recent events?
Reflections on how we dealt with Covid and how prepared we were and lessons to learn from other potential catastrophes such as recent global climate change experiences, energy and food shortages etc - which has also had impact in the UK - what we have learned and the measures we are recommending
Brooke Rogers OBE, Professor of Behavioural Science and Security, King’s College London
Ecological preparedness to protect and restore nature
Nature is in crisis globally and seriously in the UK – our sustainable future depends on nature’s health.
Beccy Speight, Chief Executive Officer of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Energy preparedness – what the built environment must do.
For built environment professionals, improving the energy performance of built stock is something that we can do, so why are we having so much difficulty in making this happen at the scale needed?
Paul Ruyssevelt, Professor of Energy and Building Performance, Building Stock Lab Leader, UCL Energy Institute, UCL
Edge Debate #139: 13.15 – 14.00
Activism: Act now, or face extinction
Over the years there have been many warnings about the increasing threats and consequences of climate and ecological breakdown, but the rate at which we have responded to these challenges has been slower than is needed.
A recent UN report states that “ there is “no credible pathway to 1.5C in place”, the UN’s environment agency has said, and the failure to reduce carbon emissions means the only way to limit the worst impacts of the climate crisis is a “rapid transformation of societies”.
So, what will change things? Will we act now or move eyes wide shut into an uncertain future?
FUTUREBUILD PROPOSITION No 3:
Talking about the problem is our ‘comfort zone’, but those working in the built environment know what we need to do, so let’s all agree to act.
Chair: Ben Goldsmith, Chair, Conservative Environment Network and Chief Executive, Menhaden Plc
Our climate action campaigns
Sara Edmonds, Coordinator, Architects Climate Action Network (ACAN) and Director at Studio seARCH
How we are influencing action across the built environment
Kat Scott, Low Energy Transformation Initiative (LETI) and Sustainability & Regenerative Design Manager, dRMM Architects
What we are doing to effect change
Smith Mordak, Built Environment Declares and Director of Sustainability and Physics at Buro Happold
Political action is critical for making progress
Dr Amy McDonnell, Campaign Director, Zero Hour and a co-author of the Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill
Edge Debate #140: 15.30 -16.30
Futurebuild debate: Rebuild or Retrofit: Planning and Whole Life Carbon
Our preferred option is habitually to clear the site and start again, but carbon calculations too often advise that this is not appropriate. An alternative has been to retain the facade leaving it looking out of place, but why not retain the building? Adaptive reuse of, and where appropriate extensions to, existing buildings can be more challenging, but more rewarding against many of the measurements we can apply including the continuity of place. Is it the designer’s obligation to put zero carbon first?
This debate will look at the issues from both sides. The audience will be invited to vote for the motion at the start of the session and again at the end once the arguments have been aired.
Debate motion:
Planning must presume in favour of retrofit for whole life carbon and cultural reasons
Chair: Isabel Allen, Editor, Architecture Today
For the motion:
Why planning is the key to building retrofitting and reuse
Estelle Dehon, KC, Cornerstone Barristers
The designer’s responsibilities for whole life carbon
Peter Fisher, Director, Bennetts Associates
Against the motion:
What about viability?
Matt Richards, Planning Director, Planning Residential and Business Space, Savills When demolition and rebuilding is the right decision
Jo Bacon, Partner, Allies and Morrison