Sustainability & Construction Newsletter #5

Welcome to the 5th edition of our Sustainability and Construction newsletter - our final edition of 2022!

We've taken a slightly different approach with this edition, focussing on positive news and exciting upcoming projects within the industry as we continue on the road to Net Zero.

We wanted to take the opportunity to thank our readers and subscribers for your continued support. We look forward to bringing you more industry news and updates throughout 2023 and would like to wish you Season’s Greetings and a prosperous New Year.

Latest Mitsubishi Electric News:

Cooperation is the key to achieving low-carbon buildings

At the London Build 2022 exhibition in November, a panel of main contractors and suppliers showed that the demand for low-carbon buildings is driving communication and cooperation. The big push is data sharing. There is no way to calculate the embodied and operational carbon of a building unless everyone along the supply chain is open and honest about their carbon figures.

New Ask ME Podcast Episode | Stranded Assets | What can we do about it?

What can building owners do about stranded assets? On the latest episode of the Ask ME Podcast,?Dan Smith , Chris Newman , and Richard Venga from Mitsubishi Electric discuss what steps building owners and corporate landlords need to take in order to avoid falling into the trap of stranded assets within their portfolios.

Listen to the full episode?here .

Collaboration delivers first all-electric university building

The first all-electric building for the University of Salford is now open to students, following this landmark cross-industry collaboration between the University, Morgan Sindall Construction, Arup, A&B Engineering and Mitsubishi Electric.

The stunning four-storey, 15,550 square metre Science, Environment and Engineering Building, which welcomed students working in physics, electronics and other sciences from the start of this academic year, is benefitting from Mitsubishi Electric’s energy-efficient heating and cooling systems.

Latest Industry News:

Building for legacy with Richard Hubbard

Finding ways of developing green concrete and green steel are two of the most significant hurdles in our journey to Net Zero. So how do we continue to build the environments of the future – especially in rapidly urbanising countries – while encouraging greener practices such as circularity and modularity?

Bristol surfing lake The Wave to become carbon neutral

Work is set to start on a solar and energy storage array at the artificial surfing lake, The Wave.

The solar installation will produce more energy than The Wave, near Bristol, uses every year, making it carbon neutral. It is due to be completed and start generating energy from June.

Dan Smith, our National Sustainability and Construction Manager, recently had the pleasure of visiting The Wave.

Is Net Zero in construction possible?

Construction without carbon emissions may still be a long way off, but modern methods and materials are moving us in the right direction. Chris Newman, zero carbon design manager at Mitsubishi Electric, believes reaching Net Zero carbon emissions is absolutely feasible, and is seeing progress being made in the construction industry across Europe.

Fossil fuel recruiters banned from three more UK universities

Three more UK universities have banned fossil fuel companies from recruiting students through their career services, with one citing the industry as a “fundamental barrier to a more just and sustainable world”.

The University of the Arts London, University of Bedfordshire, and Wrexham Glyndwr University join Birkbeck, University of London, which was the first to adopt a fossil-free careers service policy in September.

BEIS’s net-zero business engagement lead’s keynote speech to energy professionals

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s (BEIS) Net Zero business engagement lead has provided Edie's audience with an update on policymaking for decarbonisation as we approach the end of 2022.

Dan Altman from BEIS delivered a keynote address that served to recap on Net Zero-related policymaking in the UK this year.

University of Nottingham is third in the world for sustainability

The University of Nottingham has been ranked third in the world in a list of the most sustainable universities – retaining its top three position for a third consecutive year.?

The UI Green Metric, produced by the Universitas Indonesia, is the only university ranking in the world that measures each participating university’s commitment in developing an ‘environmentally friendly’ infrastructure. The rankings look at six indicators: setting and infrastructure, energy and climate change, waste, water, transportation, and education.

'We are creating a Green Britain': Number of green jobs in the UK almost trebles

Latest PwC Green Jobs Barometer reveals the number of green jobs is growing at around four times the rate of the overall UK employment market. The UK economy may be facing severe headwinds, but the green jobs market is continuing to boom, according to the latest Green Jobs Barometer report from consultancy giant PwC.

We hope you've found the content of this newsletter useful and relevant. In each edition, we'll focus on bringing you the latest news and topics around sustainability and construction.

If you're looking for advice and support on creating Net Zero buildings in 2023, please feel free to reach out to Dan Smith?here .