Digital tools for low carbon design: case studies of innovation

Talk

Wednesday 17 February 2021
10:00 - 11:00

White ReCapture BIM Model View © White Arkitekter

What are the most accurate tools to measure and reduce carbon emissions in buildings? This webinar will present some of the most recent modelling tools developed in-house by London’s practices to be applied to the next generation of zero carbon buildings.

Calculating the carbon emissions of a building at design stage is a complex process, especially when it comes to measure embodied carbon. Recent innovation in technology and modelling tools are making this task much easier and more reliable. What are some of the most innovative and recently developed carbon reduction tools that can be applied to create better, low-carbon design solutions?

In this webinar we hear about some of the most recent carbon modelling tools developed in house by London’s practices and how this technology is being applied to building design.

The NLA Urban Innovation programme brings together the tech and built environment sector connecting innovators, tech specialists and urban practitioners to discuss how emerging technologies and practices could solve key urban problems. As well as examining the impact of technologies on London, this programme champions the role of the capital as an incubator for technological innovation in property, design and city making.

Case studies presentations:

White ReCapture

White Arkitekter’s new service, White ReCapture, makes it possible to assess the potential of reuse in a building in a time and cost-effective way. This is achieved using a combination of 3D laser scanning and expertise through which an inventory of materials is undertaken and digitised. The digital model provides information on which materials and parts can be used in new production as well as in rebuilding projects. The ReCapture service enables the reuse of all non-hazardous structures, materials and products to support architectural ambition and wellbeing as well as a becoming a resource for an efficient and economic building process.

Carbon.AKT

Carbon.AKT is a dynamic tool that informs design decisions right from the start of a project, to assure a successful outcome. This bespoke parametric collaborative software has been developed in-house by AKT II’s software engineers to provide a granular analysis of carbon use. Schemes are separated into three primary embodied carbon contributors: substructure, superstructure and façade. The tool assists the making of quantitative decisions from the start, sketch design, through to the end, detailed design.

Embodied Carbon in MEP design

Elementa Consulting

Toolkit that looks into how we could assess the true carbon impact of MEP design. Collectively, we established a method based on extracting data from BIM models used to create a link to an embodied carbon dataset. Using very detailed Revit models and dynamo scripting as a way to extract the right information, this method allows us to generate accurate bill of quantities. The results give us a potential range of embodied carbon emissions per project.

H\B:ERT

Hawkins\Brown

The Hawkins\Brown: Emission Reduction Tool (H\B:ERT) is a Revit-based tool that enables design teams to quickly analyse and visualise the embodied carbon emissions of building components and construction material options at any time during the design process. The tool’s data aligns with both RICS and RIBA guidance and currently uses the Circular Ecology ICE database.