newsteelconstruction.com

NSC Archives

News

Introducing Target Zero

The BCSA and Corus have announced a major initiative to help make zero carbon buildings a reality. The £1M ‘Target Zero’ project will provide designers with the guidance they need to meet emissions reduction targets towards the aspiration of zero carbon by 2019.

The construction industry faces an unprecedented challenge to significantly reduce the greenhouse emissions from the built environment. Because there is a lack of reliable data to inform those that make technical decisions, the BCSA and Corus have resolved to fill this gap by commissioning sustainability specialists Faber Maunsell / AECOM, assisted by cost consultant Cyril Sweett, to deliver ‘Target Zero’.

The aim of the project is to understand the implications of the UK Government’s move towards zero carbon for construction of non-domestic buildings. ‘Target Zero’ will research and cost options for improving operational energy consumption and reducing embodied energy.

Over three years ‘Target Zero’ will look at five major building types (schools, warehouses, offices, supermarkets and mixed-use) and will generate fully-costed solutions demonstrating how to achieve the three highest BREEAM ratings and meet the anticipated changes to Part L of the Building Regulations.

Guidance will be produced for each of the building types with the first reports due to appear later this summer. A new report will appear approximately every three months until all building types have been covered.

BCSA President Richard Barrett says: “The schools study has already identified potential annual energy savings of £165M nationally, equivalent to £22 per pupil. The steel sector has a long history of providing the guidance designers need to make the best use of steel. The latest information they require relates to sustainability and the reduction of carbon in buildings. Target Zero is a focussed practical study to deliver that information.”

Corus has developed a new methodology for calculating the embodied energy for steel sections which takes account of the multi-cycling nature of steel. Figures for the tonnes of CO2 /tonne of steel have been calculated for steel sections and plate.

Alan Todd, General Manager of Corus Construction Services and Development comments: “There are many highly sustainable steel-framed buildings and many have achieved the highest ratings under BREEAM. Steel itself has many advantages and a steel-frame is a great enabler of sustainability in a wider sense. The ‘Target Zero’ project will provide useful guidance for the increasing number of designers who have an interest in achieving best sustainable performance.”

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Share this post

Related Posts

THIS MONTH'S MAGAZINE

Click on the cover to view this month's issue as a digimag.

Archives