FOOTPRINT podcasts

Xylo: The largest all-timber frame office building in the UK

Xylo, the largest consented all-timber office building in the UK, is a 9-storey, glulam and CLT framed office building in Clerkenwell. Designed as a kit of parts, it proposes a new typology of sustainable office building based around the future adaptability and the wellbeing of its occupants. This whole building approach to sustainability demonstrates that when retrofit isn’t an option, Mass Timber can offer the most environmentally responsible approach. Exceeding the sustainability targets set by both the GLA and Camden Council, this building has been calculated to lower operational carbon emissions by up to 82% over a typical office building. The offsite fabrication of the timber structure lowers the construction phase carbon emissions and as a result, overall embodied emissions will be 25% better than the aspirational GLA WLC benchmark and better than the UKGBC Case for Net Zero Feasibility Study Stretch Targets. 

Speakers

Karianne Kraaijestein, Director - Pure Mind Management

Andy Heyne, Director - Heyne Tillett Steel

Chris Price, Sustainability Consultant and Embodied Carbon Specialist - Max Fordham LLP

Jason Coe, Associate - Piercy & Co

Andrew Ross, Development Director - Global Holdings

Retrofit-first planning policy

GLA Whole life carbon and Circular Economy policies have transformed development in London. Councils, such as Westminster City and City of London, have developed borough-specific policies that go one BIG step further developing specific planning targets to prevent demolition and being to set limits to embodied carbon emissions. 

What is the future for planning policy in evaluating retrofit and new build proposals?

Chairperson

Rachael Owens, Head of Sustainability - Buckley Gray Yeoman

Speakers

Kerstin Kane, Principal Planning Officer - City of London

Gustavo Brunelli, Technical Director - Atelier Ten

Sophia Ceneda, Associate & Sustainability Lead - Howells

Delivering real estate for Article 8 and 9 funds

Bloom Camberwell is one of the first logistics facilities in the UK able to demonstrate true alignment with the Paris Agreement commitments on climate change through the UK ESG Taxonomies. Sustainable investment funds require project teams to show compliance throughout the project lifecycle so assessments needed from Stage 2 have included:

• Climate Vulnerability and Risk Assessment
• Disassembly and Adaptability Study
• Global Warming Potential Study

Monitoring throughout the detailed design and construction phases by the contractor, supply chain and wider project team will be used to verify the outcomes up to practical completion. These evaluations are critical in informing the Taxonomy Specification and ultimately fulfilling the regulatory requirements of an article 8 or 9 fund. 

Chairperson

Liz Hamson, Editor-in-Chief - BE News

Speakers

Andy Cox, Director - Trigon DM

Chris Leonard, Development Director - Bloom Developments

Eoin Leonard, CEO - Catalyst

Bradley Harris, Construction Director - Magrock

Breakfast Briefing with Willmott Dixon: Early Contractor Involvement: Enhancing Deliverability

The integration of the contractor within the design team and process is standard practice for some building types and sectors. For decarbonisation projects it can bring specific beneficial outcomes. In this session the contractor and developer will show how ECI gets projects on site with more cost and programme security and with less risk discussing:

• the incorporation of specialist knowledge in the early stages of a project
• the importance of strategic delivery approaches across key stakeholder groups
• mitigation of risks earlier in the development stages    

Chairperson

Richard Bartlett, Pre-Construction Director - Willmott Dixon

Speakers

Kelly Crews, Head of Decarbonisation - Willmott Dixon

Basil Demeroutis, Managing Partner - FORE Partnership

Energy consumption data analysis: Reaping the rewards

The British Property Federation's recent Towards Net Zero research asked investors, developers, managers, owners and occupiers about the challenges they were facing in their path towards net zero. Senior leaders from 45 different organisations identified that the biggest challenge they or their clients/tenants faced in the transition to net zero carbon was access to sufficient energy consumption data. 

Join the panel as they discuss the data challenges across different asset classes:

• exploring the importance and use of energy data in reaching net zero and the role of technology 
• highlighting good practice with case studies
• exploring perceptions around the role of landlords in sharing data
• the development of policies around energy consumption data

Chairperson

Sammy Pahal, Managing Director - UK Proptech Association

Speakers

Alice Nordvall, Customer Success Team Lead - Position Green

Fred Lee, Senior Counsel - Farrer & Co

Rob Wall, Assistant Director - British Property Federation

John Inglis, Head of Net Zero - Get Living

Glass: A viable circular commodity

The majority of construction glass goes to landfill because the industry has not established the knowledge and procedures to divert this precious and carbon-intensive commodity back into the supply chain. As with all materials, the journey to reuse starts with identifying the glass within a building to understand what can be accepted as cullet back into the float manufacturers' furnaces. The panel will guide you through the entire process of assessment, removal and remanufacture illustrated with the first significant examples of construction glass recycling taking place over the next months.

Speakers

Katherine Adams, Director - Reusefully

David Entwistle, Head of Major Projects - Saint-Gobain

Graeme DeBrincat, Associate - Arup

Brody Isaac, Head of Sustainability - McLaren Construction

Nils Rage, Head of ESG - Stanhope

Mainstreaming novel regenerative materials: Challenges and solutions

Some novel nature-based materials have been around for millennia but have fallen out of mainstream use, while others are entirely new and innovative. The regenerative capability of new nature-based construction materials may be well-documented but it doesn’t automatically follow that a regenerative product can be brought into the supply chain.

How do we identify and overcome the stumbling blocks in insurance, warranties and other barriers?

Speakers

Matthew Margetts, Director of Sales and Marketing - Smarter Technologies

Rachel Norris, Senior Vice President - Lockton LLP

Brendan Geraghty, CEO - ARL

Andy Kane, Head of Construction & Engineering - QBE Europe

Sam Draper, CEO - Seratech

Metropolis: Mass Timber hybrid extension delivering high-value workspace

Metropolis is the deep retrofit of the Woolworth’s HQ building designed by Richard Seifert. Designed to be net zero in operation the project has also saved an estimated 25,000 tonnes of embodied carbon through building retention, mass timber extension and fossil-free fuel in operation.  Delivering an exceptional product to future occupiers, the design incorporates around 15% amenity space including gardens, roof terraces, shared amenities and end of journey facilities . Come and hear from the team on the particular challenges faced to achieve the project including:

• improvements to building fabric while retaining as much of the historic facades as possible 
• the design, approvals and insurance procedures needed to build out of exposed mass timber
• delivering amenity-rich, sustainable workplaces for occupiers

Speakers

Lauren Lemcke, Senior Cost Consultant - MGAC

Ben Cross, Creative Real Estate Developer

Philip Turner, Director - Allford Hall Monaghan Morris

Sofi Zickerman-White, Associate Director - LifeProven

William Foster, Partner, London Office Leasing - Knight Frank