Low Carbon Construction

It’s no secret that current practices in building construction are major obstacles to a genuinely sustainable future. With highly energy intensive materials such as concrete and steel almost ubiquitous in our everyday lives, they are large emissions sources that must be tackled. It follows, therefore, that the accurate whole-life appraisal of impacts resulting from building materials in the spaces we live and work is of the utmost importance.

Research at the forefront of this field is leading to reduced emissions from the operation of our buildings and the materials they are comprised of. Hence this research is advancing towards a direct challenge on the predisposition that new development must come at the cost of the environment. Unchaining development from environmental detriment is imperative if we are to achieve a truly low carbon future.

The DTC and Low Carbon Construction

Research into sustainable design at Leeds comprises a broad breadth of focus areas including rediscovery of fringe or forgotten sustainable building practices; numerous building practices have been lost or are on the brink of extinction. In many cases inherently low carbon methods are being lost. The aim is to identify such building practices and analyse their benefits from a whole life perspective.

Another key area of research is reducing the use of energy-intensive materials in the UK construction sector. This work aims to assess the potential role of: alternative construction materials, increased deconstruction and recycling, lightweighting and member optimisation, adaptive re-use and life extension, in reducing the material impacts of the UK construction sector. The 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. Once these options are fully characterised, the ultimate aim is to assess the potential impacts on future material, energy and emissions flows.