Where CarboniCa has made a difference
As part of an industry-wide 18-month collaborative research project, teams from Morgan Sindall Construction, SCAPE, HLM Architects, Cundall and Lungfish Architects worked to innovate a new process for designing and delivering construction projects.
Project purpose:
Highlight how procurement affects the design decision making process;
Showcase the value that could be captured through vertical collaboration with the value chain;
Understand the impact that capital cost decisions have on operational costs and the environment.
By applying lessons learned from past projects, challenging existing assumptions and utilising vertical collaboration with the whole supply chain, there are some exciting learnings to share. CarboniCa was used throughout the research to measure the effectiveness of the solutions for their effectiveness in reducing carbon from the built environment.
The Circular Twin responds positively to the climate emergency and demonstrated that almost cost-neutral, low carbon construction was hidden in plain sight, by the industry's reliance on traditional design and procurement approaches. The research shows how early engagement and planning can allow simple changes to be made to create long-term carbon savings.
Read more about the Circular Twin
67% reduction in Whole Life Carbon
72% reduction in upfront embodied carbon (EC) (48% reduction in lifecycle EC - this achieves the RIBA 2030 and LETI 2030 Embodied Carbon targets)
52% reduction in annual energy consumption
39% reduction in forest consumption (for products and 30-year UK offset)
CAPEX delivered within standard budgetary parameters
Wirral Growth Company | £75mBirkenhead
Alongside the data from CarboniCa we incorporated the skills of our supply chain partners to reduce the impact of the foundations, the team reduced the pile diameter, changed the concrete mix to increase cement replacement, and sourced lower carbon rebar made from scrap metal.
This example proves that carbon reduction is a team effort and by sharing skills, best practice and data we can achieve some great results. We'd like to thank our supply chain partners for their support; Chartrange, Hy-Ten, Van Elle, Murraywood Construction, Hanson and Leach.
Westvale Park Primary Academy | £8.6mHorley, Surrey
The team worked with strategic supply chain partner Streif to switch from using a traditional steel frame for the 2FE primary school to offsite manufactured timber frame panels.
Using CarboniCa, the team identified that the solution offered superior insulation for this project and lower embodied carbon. As the solution utilised offsite capabilities, the carbon savings included in the calculation also came from the reduced deliveries to site of the frame itself, which meant less traffic and emissions within the projects live school environment.
Molecular Science Building | £55.8mUniversity of Birmingham
The team have been working at all phases of the project to reduce carbon as part of this new home for chemical, environmental and bio-molecular sciences research. They're utilising a raft foundation and the omission of piling combined with maximising cement replacements has saved 151 tonnes.
The replacement of metal ceiling tiles with plasterboard margins has saved 68 tonnes and eliminating suspended ceilings altogether 41 tonnes. By reducing the amount of heavy grade flooring they've saved 48 tonnes.
We do say that a little means a lot and by using CarboniCa, they've made multiple additional small design changes, resulting in a 50 tonne carbon saving.
Cosham Fire StationPortsmouth
We worked with HLM and Arup (the project's design lead and planner and estimator) at design stage 3 to use CarboniCa during the preconstruction stage of the project to find opportunities. The earlier we can use CarboniCa, the greater the potential carbon savings will be.
The team ran the project design specification through CarboniCa, resulting in a series of savings for them to investigate. The team worked collaboratively with the team to review each example in more detail for suitability and compatibility.
✅ Investigation of ground improvement techniques enabling a pad foundation design saving 20 tonnes of carbon
✅ Rationalisation of column and beam sizes and sourcing of lower carbon steel to realise an estimated 1% saving in embodied carbon
✅ For the roof and upper floors, the project team are investigating using the concrete planks for thermal mass to see if operational energy demand can be reduced by 1% or 82 tonnes of carbon over 60 years.
Victoria Road | £11mPortslade, Brighton
As part of this project to build 42 residential flats for Brighton and Hove City Council, we worked with our supply chain partner, Sigmat Limited, to find alternative solutions to the project's structural frame. By using CarboniCa we were able to carry out a comparison of the two frame options and calculate the embodied carbon at practical completion.
By working with strategic supply chain partner Speedy, the team also switched from using red diesel to HVO (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil), which results in improved local air quality as emissions contain less Nitrogen Oxides and other harmful matter. 25,000 litres of this fossil-free fuel will be used during construction as an alternative to what would have traditionally been used.
✅ 177 tonnes of carbon by switching frames
✅ 70.5 tonnes of carbon by switching fuel
Buntingford First School | £11mHertfordshire
Buntingford First School is being in line with Hertfordshire County Council’s sustainability strategy and ambition to be carbon neutral by 2030. The school will be the first Net-Zero Carbon building for the council and is being designed to Passivhaus principles to improve air quality, reduce carbon emissions and lower its energy running costs.To help achieve this, the project team have used CarboniCa which has so far calculated carbon savings of 203.4 tCO2e. Some examples of these savings include minimising the amount of concrete in the foundations by reducing the number of piles and depth of the ground beam design, as well as mixing 50% of the concrete with GGBS.
✅ Minimised concrete in foundations by reducing the number of piles and reducing the depth of the ground beam
✅ Used 50% GGBS in the concrete
✅ Opted for a timber frame solution
✅ HVO fuel being used on site
Chapel Lane Primary School | £7mBingham
A new build primary school with the goal to be self-efficient with air source heat pumps, high-efficiency lighting with electrically operated roof lights, and four electric vehicle charging stations.
The team worked with its suppliers and subcontractors to reduce the carbon footprint of the build process as part of Morgan Sindall's ‘10 Tonne Carbon Challenge’ initiative. The project was ran through CarboniCa to help identify carbon savings. In total, the site was able to save 39.48 tonnes of carbon during the initiative by opting to a GGBS concrete for the pre-cast concrete planks.
Sir Peter Hall SEMH School | £7.1mSuffolk
The team got involved in Morgan Sindall's 10 Tonne Challenge initiative and in total, managed to save 258 tonnes of carbon:
Re-use and storage of sub-soil on site saved over 80 lorry journeys, equating to 6.9 tonnes of carbon saved.
18,030 electric miles to site reduced the carbon use from 4.8 tonnes of carbon to 1.4 tonnes of carbon used. Saving 3.3 tonnes.
Connection of welfare units to mains electric for an additional 5 weeks saved the team using 750L of diesel. All together this saved 1,9 tonnes of carbon.
Use of Electric Arc Furnace for the produce of the Steelwork for the Steel Frame saved 249 Tonnes of Carbon.
