The Climate Emergency & Zero Carbon Architecture
It is widely understood that we are living through a period of climate emergency.
We have all seen the staggering statistics surrounding habitat loss, species decline and global warming. They all point very clearly to the loss of balance between mankind and the natural world. Our generation is the tipping point.
When we reflect on the facts, we’re left with a sense that mankind has pushed the natural world to the very limits of its endurance. The enormity of the implications are felt emotionally and viscerally, particularly with footage of the loss of the Amazon rainforest or the destruction of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. There is a feeling of helplessness in the face of this relentless depletion of the planet’s resources; a sense that we cannot, as individuals, hold back this wave of consumption.
But hope is not entirely lost. While the situation is dire by any measure, we must understand that our contribution to the state of the natural environment, particularly as Westerners with a disproportionate demand for energy and resources, puts us in a position where changes in our actions can have a positive impact. Coming together and tackling the climate emergency together, particularly when considering architecture and the construction of new carbon zero buildings, is possible.
Our Perspective On The Climate Emergency
The situation we’re seeing across the world has been a long time in the making. For us, in the UK, our contributions to the climate emergency began many years ago. The depletion of our natural resources and the destruction of native wildlife habitats has been happening since the Medieval era, leaving us with the poor natural ecosystems we have today.
Even areas of ‘natural’ landscape that we enjoy in the UK are far removed from the ‘true’ natural state that the UK once experienced. Rivers have been turned into canals, food plains dredged, natural species woodlands removed to create timber plantations, and messy, complex ecosystems reduced & divided by homes, roads and infrastructure to the point of sterilisation.
As the Director of Pinchin Architects, I see the impact of this process daily. Living in Hertfordshire and working predominantly in London and the Home Counties, much of my architectural practise is concerned with inner-city air quality and the complexities of high-density social housing, as well as seeing the impact of low-quality volume house building on our rural areas and the lack of biodiversity in the supposed green zone around our nation’s capital.
Our Commitment To Sustainable Architecture & Zero Carbon Building
Being a local business owner, I’m eager to do my part - both as a business owner and a professional architect. For that reason, as a practice, Pinchin Architects have signed the declaration with Architects Declare , committing to achieving sustainable and energy-conscious outcomes wherever possible on all of our architectural projects.
Architects Declare is an industry-recognised initiative whereby architectural practices commit to a declaration and use that commitment as a catalyst to drive effective change within their organisations. It’s not only a tool to demonstrate our commitment to combating climate change in discussions with clients and collaborators; it drives every decision we make as a business.
The declaration that we have made is as follows: Pinchin Architects will seek to:
Raise awareness of the climate and biodiversity emergencies and the urgent need for action amongst our clients and supply chains.
Advocate for faster change in our industry towards regenerative design practices and a higher Governmental funding priority to support this.
Establish climate and biodiversity mitigation principles as the key measure of our industry’s success: demonstrated through awards, prizes and listings.
Share knowledge and research to that end on an open-source basis.
Evaluate all new projects against the aspiration to contribute positively to mitigating climate breakdown, and encourage our clients to adopt this approach.
Upgrade existing buildings for extended use as a more carbon efficient alternative to demolition and new build whenever there is a viable choice.
Include life cycle costing, whole life carbon modelling and post occupancy evaluation as part of our basic scope of work, to reduce both embodied and operational resource use.
Adopt more regenerative design principles in our studios, with the aim of designing architecture and urbanism that goes beyond the standard of net zero carbon in use.
Collaborate with engineers, contractors and clients to further reduce construction waste.
Accelerate the shift to low embodied carbon materials in all our work.
Minimise wasteful use of resources in architecture and urban planning, both in quantum and in detail.
Having signed the declaration, we are committing to putting every pledge into practice. We will be engaging with our clients in a new and progressive way, in order to use sustainability, carbon reduction and biodiversity as fundamental steps in the briefing process. The aim is to integrate an awareness of the climate emergency and how our zero carbon buildings and environmentally friendly architecture can have a positive contribution into every step of a project, making our practice as environmentally aware as possible.
Together, we can make a difference. We’re excited to continue on this positive trajectory and use our architectural skills for good.
We would be delighted to talk further with you about any aspects of your building project and how we can work together to achieve a more naturally conscious and environmentally friendly outcome. Through collaboration, learning and an applied determination, we can change our local and global environments for the better.