A website offering advice on low-carbon construction has been set up by the CIOB to help the industry meet future UK emissions targets and make sense of the conflicting facts and figures.
More than 8,000 people have already signed up to the site, which is set to be officially launched on 14 June and which will identify 50 simple actions users can take to cut carbon, spread across seven different topics.
CarbonAction2050.com is the brainchild of the Institute’s Low Carbon Working Group, chaired by CIOB vice president Alan Crane. “We looked at what others were doing and there was no major programme for addressing carbon issues,” said Crane. “As the only institute in the built environment with a broad professional membership, including architects, contractors engineers, planners and surveyors, we felt a responsibility to develop the site.”
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The website will bring together disparate knowledge on carbon reduction for the first time, added Crane: “There are numerous resources available from government, specialist bodies etc, and many different carbon measurement methods and definitions. CA2050 will give our members a clearer means of understanding the issues and identifying ways to take practical action.”
Users can gain information on specific actions relevant to their role by accessing one of the seven different areas: Buildings In Design; Buildings In Construction; Buildings In Operation and Maintenance; Buildings Under Retrofit & Refurbishment; Education & Skills; Leadership; and CIOB Actions (what the CIOB is doing to cut carbon).
For example, the Buildings In Construction section is aimed at contractors, architects and quantity surveyors and a typical action is to “reduce the embodied carbon of materials”. The site then suggests ways to do that, such as through use of cement alternatives in concrete. A matrix section on the site also lists actions specific to job titles or areas of work. Users can also post case studies for publication on the site.
The CIOB is hoping to attract 15,000 unique visitors to CarbonAction2050.com within the first year, after which the site will be updated with new content, a discussion board, forums and perhaps online CPD and events pages.
“We want it to be an interactive resource that people will come back to, make contact with other practitioners and share knowledge,” concluded Sarah Naxton, website manager at the CIOB.
