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Low Carbon Buildings

Property accounts for 50% of the world's carbon emissions and accordingly there is increasing regulation around carbon in property. Designers, architects, developers and investors are focussing more on low carbon buildings and portfolios.

We have an envious track record having worked on Masdar in Abu Dhabi, the world's first zero carbon city, and the carbon neutral Graylingwell development which includes the UK's largest domestic PV installation.

We understand how the built form interacts with the environment and our approach is to reduce environmental impacts without limiting the choices, quality or economics of the design.

So what do we do to make a building or development low carbon?

• We develop upfront methodologies to deliver zero or low carbon developments
• We provide advice to maximise solar gain in the winter and provide shading in the summer
• We calculate the potential for renewable energy across the different technologies
• We advise on sustainable and low embodied energy options for building materials
• Where appropriate we provide design advice on water conservation and recycling
• Using software we analyse the availability of natural daylight to assist with the façade design
• We investigate the carbon footprint to show how it can be reduced through low carbon choices and offsets
• And we can monitor performance against targets and designs throughout the entire life cycle

Often, we work in close collaboration with our colleagues in WSP Group for our low carbon solutions. Amongst many other things they bring expertise in M&E engineering, building services and structural design. We have all the expertise in one place which enables us to provide holistic and integrated design strategies for low carbon buildings.

If you already have a building and want to make carbon reductions or turn it carbon neutral, we can help with that too. Have a look at our Energy & Emissions section.