Be part of the change. Can we reimagine how we nurture ideas?
Tetra Tech High Performance Buildings Group
Delivering high-end consulting and engineering design services for our clients’ most challenging building projects
The built environment needs a shot in the arm, where exemplar projects that follow Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) principles are no longer the exception but the norm. It’s time to rethink how the industry does things. Can we tap into how some of these projects are delivered to catalyse and scale up change?
If you consider what a low-carbon, sustainable built environment might look like in the future -- what is normal and what is every day -- well, across the globe there are those of us already living, working and playing in these spaces. Today, inspiring, high-performance projects can be found across the globe. They aren’t pervasive. But they are beacons of inspiration.
Best practice and answers to some of the thorniest issues around climate adaptation, mitigation and resilience to do with the built environment have already been financed, engineered and delivered, whether in Australia, Canada, the U.S., the U.K., or China. There are examples of innovation and excellence in the global south and north, transcending development and wealth.
“It’s about collectively moving towards common goals. We want to deliver low carbon buildings, because we must address the climate emergency but also frankly because that will make us successful commercially. Nowhere is this truer than in the supply chain. We want to be able to work with partners that share similar values.” Nils Rage, Head of ESG, Stanhope PLC
Can we reimagine how the industry nurtures inspiring, low-carbon projects and ideas so that there is demand at a much greater scale? Creativity is paramount with a strong focus on the building blocks of the industry, including materials and supply chains, energy sources and water management.
Reimagining how the industry innovates in a resource-constrained world is at the heart of this process. The consultation has shown that many forward-looking built environment projects were successful not despite of constraints, but because of them. Constraints can foster innovation since they represent a motivating challenge – the climate crisis. This is focusing efforts on a more narrowly defined way forward, one where earth’s boundaries and net zero emissions are the north star.
The industry can reimagine a better future and innovate with ESG principles at its core by embracing these constraints; this was the consensus from a number of respondents. Realising that many sustainable solutions aren’t necessarily more expensive than conventional practice, the sector also needs to improve its understanding and take more time and care in the sourcing and design processes.
“The frustrating thing is there are solutions out there. We've got all of the solutions, we just need to allocate the money and scale them up.” Charles Reeve, Principal, Economic Growth and Infrastructure, Tetra Tech
Certainly, there is going to be an upcoming increase in demand for projects that fit a more sustainable brief. Using constraints that limit inputs and enforce specific processes and output requirements could be good for the industry.
In the process the industry needs to send clear demand signals, working collaboratively with suppliers, to enable investment at scale. The aim is to decarbonize the materials, inputs and processes the sector relies on. Can the sector also utilize materials that sequester more carbon than is produced in their manufacture, transportation and incorporation into projects?
Reimagining ideas on the built environment can also extend to end-of-project life. This was another consultation conclusion. Projects will need to be designed so that they can be easily disassembled, and constituent parts reused in future projects. This process involves rethinking secondary markets for repurposed concrete, glass, steel and timber. The industry’s models of production and ownership could also be reimagined, where circular economic models offer up new potential.
Collaboration and the sharing of techniques, blueprints on designs, as well as details of successes and scale-ups can embolden the built environment industry. This will allow confident decision making – transparency is key.
“We need to use our creative minds as human beings, to engage people in new ways and actually provide opportunities to experience different choices.” Helle Lis Søholt, Founding Partner and CEO of Gehl
There's also a lot that the built environment, which is a largely conservative global industry, can learn from other economic sectors from finance to telecoms, retail to technology, in terms of financing and de-risking innovation - reimagining ideas from a broader horizon.
There’s even more to be learnt from the global south and emerging markets where resource constraints are an everyday occurrence. For instance, knowing how to build and live with less energy using passive cooling and design techniques or managing with a lot less water. A frugal approach to innovation, doing more with less is again disruptive.
Reimagining the built environment today is crucial for a more sustainable tomorrow.
Be part of the change.
Reimagining – a debate in three questions:
How do we nurture new ideas for the built environment so they make a difference at scale?
How do we reimagine our use of resources in a constrained world while innovating?
How do we make resource-constrained innovation the norm?
A case in point:
C6 - Perth, Western Australia
This will be the tallest hybrid, carbon negative timber structure in the world upon completion. We have been able to reduce the cost and extent of the building’s structural elements. The hybrid design could act as a driver to change the way construction is approached in Australia. It will be a case study for new-builds, illustrating a viable, more sustainable approach to large volume construction.
Transforming the way water infrastructure is used to build climate resilience - Southern Africa
The water issues that exist in Southern Africa are complex and shared across country borders, requiring regional and transboundary solutions. Stable, well-managed water infrastructure and water resources – such as rivers, lakes or river basins – not only ensure access to drinking water and agricultural irrigation but are also essential to mitigating and adapting to the negative impacts of climate change. Tetra Tech supported the U.K.’s FCDO programme - the Climate Resilient Infrastructure Development Facility – to address this challenge. Our team provided infrastructure planning and delivery, operations, and access to finance services to improve climate adaption and resilience.
Quotes from our conversations
“What will shift the dial is adopting a mindset on what’s possible and moving way past zero.” Bill Browning, Partner, Terrapin Bright Green
“The mind shift is really important. And we do see some companies doing it - setting goals or putting forward business cases or creating coalitions.” Heather Tallis, Senior Fellow, Center for Coastal Climate Resilience, University of California, Santa Cruz
Tetra Tech High Performance Buildings Group brings together the expertise of talented engineers, commissioning agents, and energy analysts from around the world. For more than 50 years, Tetra Tech’s design practice has expanded to meet the needs of commercial and government clients looking to improve the sustainability of their buildings.
Acknowledgements. We would like to extend our sincere thanks to the following leaders and experts who contributed ideas and insights to this report:
Nils Rage, Stanhope PLC Head of ESG
Nils is Head of Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) for property company Stanhope. He leads the company’s sustainability and ESG strategy across design and construction development activities, asset management and investments through to corporate governance. Stanhope works across a 12m sqft development pipeline and £4bn of assets under management.
Charles Reeve, Tetra Tech Principal, Economic Growth and Infrastructure
Charles is a climate scientist with over 40 years of experience. His expertise is in the preparation and financing of infrastructure to build climate resilience for the poor. As Team Leader of the FCDO’s Climate Resilient Infrastructure Development Facility, he has been responsible for the preparation of climate resilient water infrastructure in Southern Africa. He has also mobilised finance for climate-resilient infrastructure projects including the development of innovative and non-traditional financing mechanisms and developed Nature-based Solutions to ensure ecosystem integrity, biodiversity conservation and sustainable livelihoods.
Helle Søholt, Gehl Founding Partner and CEO
Helle is Gehl CEO and Founding Partner, Chair of the Board of BLOXhub - Denmark’s leading urban innovation hub for built environment companies, and appointed member of the committee for Denmark’s National Architecture Policy. Helle is a prominent speaker on urban development and governance issues.
Bill Browning, Terrapin Bright Green Partner
William, BED Colorado University, MSRED MIT, Hon. AIA, LEED AP., is one of the green building industry’s foremost thinkers. Terrapin Bright Green is an environmental strategies research and consulting firm. Browning’s clients include Disney, New Songdo City, Lucasfilm, Google, Bank of America, Salesforce, CoStar, the US National Park Service, Marriott, the White House, Interface, and the Sydney 2000 Olympics. He has written a number of publications including, Green Development, The Economics of Biophilia, and Nature Inside. Browning was a founding board member of the USGBC.
Heather Tallis, Senior Fellow, Center for Coastal Climate Resilience, University of California, Santa Cruz
A widely published scientist, policy advisor, passionate speaker and non-profit executive, Heather works to bridge nature, the economy and people's lives. Dr. Tallis served as President Biden's policy advisor on nature in the White House Office of Science and Technology, where she drove cross agency action on nature-based solutions, advanced efforts to account for nature in benefit-cost analysis, and with the US Global Change Research Program, created the National Nature Assessment. She is currently a Senior Fellow with the Center for Coastal Climate Resilience at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a Social Impact Fellow with the World Wildlife Fund.