In response to the climate emergency’s severity, and with the built environment’s huge contribution to carbon emissions and other environmental indicators, AKT II has developed a holistic approach that focuses on how we – as engineers – can positively support the built environment’s alignment to planetary limits.

At AKT II, we believe this is best achieved through collaboration with the entire design and construction industry, from each project’s inception to completion. All architects, design teams, contractors, suppliers and clients will be integral to achieving the RIBA’s 2030 Climate Challenge.

Carbon.AKT has been conceived from an acknowledgment and understanding that, in addressing climate challenges, we as an industry must consider and understand each project’s carbon impact, right from the start. For the built environment, it’s become imperative to measure the impact of our design choices from project inception if we are to play our part in addressing the climate emergency, including through achieving Net Zero 2030.

Embodied carbon, although not new to our industry, is a metric with which all of us must become more agile. We must keep track of, and engage with, embodied carbon from the start of every scheme. As the custodian of a project’s largest embodied carbon contribution, we as the engineer have a responsibility to inform on the project’s carbon impact throughout the design process; offering routes and proposals for reduction which consider the structural, services, and architectural implications of such carbon savings.

Carbon.AKT is a bespoke, data-driven analysis tool for design optimisation. The tool facilitates collaboration and understanding, is agile to respond to industry changes and advancements, and encourages change by identifying opportunities at the start of the design process. This is just one of many ways in which our practice is responding to the climate emergency: a dynamic tool that informs design decisions from the start of each project, to help assure a successful environmental outcome.

Fig. 1 Simplified programme route map

This bespoke, collaborative parametric software has been developed in-house by AKT II’s software engineers to provide a granular analysis of carbon use. The tool separates the proposed scheme into three primary embodied carbon contributors – substructure, superstructure, and façade – and then assists the design team with quantitative decisions during the opening sketch design, and through to final detailing.

At the sketch-design stage, Carbon.AKT allows the design team to fluidly and simultaneously manipulate the building’s orientation, massing and form, applying adjustable grids and interchangeable materials, right at the front of the design process. This seamless exploration of intertwined parameters is informed by industry-leading carbon estimates, and allows us to optimally balance the architectural vision with the requirements of the stakeholders and planners. Clients and design teams can confidently lock the project’s brief and carbon targets from the beginning, before tracking the project’s performance in real-time to monitor our achievement of these sustainability objectives.

Fig 2 – Example Building A and Building B 3D overview