By Neil Turner, director, Howarth Litchfield
I have written a lot recently on green issues and the reduction of carbon use in our buildings. We all struggle to understand the jargon of carbon zero, net zero etc, but how do we go about implementing changes in our individual lives or our business that will make a real difference?
Most people now recognise that we all need to help the environment and reduce energy use but how we do that without impacting on business competitiveness, or making life less enjoyable or simply not doing daily ‘stuff’?
We live in unprecedented times in the North East with high energy costs supporting a costof-living crisis and basic foods at all-time highs; yet consumer spending remains high with house prices still growing in this region, so how do we get people to consider making changes to how they lead their overall lives?
As an architect I am aware of the dichotomy of my role in society. I encourage people to design and build wonderful new houses, factories, surgeries, and schools. All of them use raw materials, energy and carbon.
However, most architects and the wider construction industry is working very hard to think about all the decisions we make on design and construction. There are no easy decisions. If it’s a refurbishment of an old building then we need to look at how to improve, re-use and refresh the structure. Far better to use an old building and make better use of it than simply knock it down. Of course, we still need to build new, for example, building a surgery to cope with changing demands for patients or a factory to build new green technologies.
This region and the wider country are highly innovative. We have some of the best universities (in the world) with research units looking at ways to generate, create and save energy.
In the North East, our industries are ideally placed for the production of batteries, wind turbines and for recycling. Nissan’s success over the last 36 years has shown that cutting edge products can be made in the region and their investment in new technologies helps support a great many other companies. We can be both green and successful.
At HL we look to create a work environment that leads by example. We generate a large proportion of our own energy use at our studios in Durham. We constantly review the latest information, technologies and build methods for our project in our environmental group. This information is then transferred to everyone in the practice. So, when we assist clients in their building projects and they want to hear about reducing waste, using less energy and improving performance, we can share some of our own experiences and knowledge.
So, to be competitive, attractive to employ and to win new commissions, all companies need to have a green edge – not tokenism or fake interest but a deep-rooted belief in sustainability.
Changing mindsets doesn’t happen overnight but looking closely at how we run our business, schools, factories or consultancies; might just show us that we can be more efficient, better run and use less carbon. That can only be a good thing for the region and the environment.
Neil Turner, director, Howarth Litchfield can be contacted on 0191 3849470 or email n.turner@hlpuk.com www.howarthlitchfield.com
