Four ways you can embrace the circular economy today: How can you design now applying circular economy techniques?

The launch of the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard at the end of October is significant for many reasons, not least that it’s pretty much the first time that representatives from most of the UK construction industry have come together to agree on what ‘good’ looks like. This sends a positive message to the UK Government - “work with us, we know how to meet those 2050 net zero carbon targets”, while simultaneously creating a huge commercial and creative opportunity for architects well versed in low carbon construction techniques. This could result in the long-awaited inclusion of ‘Part Z’ in the Building Regulations. With embodied carbon recognised as part of the UK’s measurable carbon budget, a budget that must tumble down by 78% by 2035, we will quickly get our heads around the fact that the construction sector has to dramatically reduce its consumption of raw materials (currently running 50% of all raw materials mined and harvested every year) and in the case of the UK construction sector, dramatically reduce its gigantic waste stream that represents 63% of all our nation’s waste, compare to 35-45% in Europe.