Jannik Giesekam

For current details of his work please see his more frequently updated website.

Background

I received a MEng in Civil Engineering from The University of Glasgow, graduating in 2010. Throughout my degree I worked within the Building Engineering department of AECOM as part of an ICE QUEST scholarship. Following graduation I worked for HMRC before joining the Low Carbon Technologies DTC in 2011.

Research Interests

I have a range of interests including mapping material and energy flows, innovation in the construction industry, and the assessment of microgeneration potential.

Project Title: Reducing the use of carbon intensive materials in the UK construction sector

My research focuses on reducing the environmental impacts of the UK construction sector through the use of alternative materials, technologies and practices that minimise our dependence on materials with carbon-intensive supply chains. The embodied carbon emissions associated with our construction sector’s annual output is substantial, equivalent to the emissions from all the cars and motorcycles in the UK. Many common construction materials are already made by highly efficient processes with little room for further improvement. However, many further options exist for reducing the materials impacts of the construction sector. This includes the use of unconventional materials; increased deconstruction and material re-use and recycling; lightweighting and member optimisation; substitution of wastes into material production streams; and adaptive re-use and life extension of existing structures. My project aims to assess current levels of uptake and examples of best practice, on-going technological developments, and scope for widespread deployment of these solutions within the UK. This involves a three stage process of characterising options, assessing barriers to uptake and modelling potential impacts on future material and energy flows.