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Britain\u2019s top engineers are urging the government to stop buildings being demolished, as the co-Author of a new report steered by the Royal Academy of Engineering, Prof. Rebecca Lunn concluded that: \u2018Our biggest failure is that we build buildings, then we knock them down and throw them away. We must stop doing this.\u2019<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
The BBC writes:<\/p>\n
Making bricks and steel creates vast amounts of CO2, with cement alone causing 8% of global emissions.<\/p>\n
They say the construction industry should where possible re-use buildings, employ more recycled material, and use machinery powered by clean fuels.<\/p>\n
They are concerned about \u201cembodied emissions\u201d…<\/p>\n
They believe that unlike carbon from aircraft, vehicles and gas boilers, embodied emissions are not in people’s minds.<\/p>\n
They suspect few people realise there’s a carbon impact from, for instance, building a home extension.<\/p>\n
The report, steered by the Royal Academy of Engineering, said a new way of thinking is needed before planning new homes, factories, roads and bridges.<\/p>\n
Prof Rebecca Lunn from Strathclyde University, one of the report’s authors, said: \u201cOur biggest failure is that we build buildings, then we knock them down and throw them away. We must stop doing this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fellow author, Mike Cook, adjunct professor at Imperial College, challenged the government’s \u00a327bn road-building programme because of the embodied emissions created to obtain the concrete and tarmac, as well as the use of very polluting machines to construct the highways\u2026<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) responded to a request from BBC News for a comment by stating that the UK was a \u201cworld leader in tackling climate change\u201d\u2026.<\/p>\n
\u2026 The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) estimates that 35% of the lifecycle carbon from a typical office development is emitted before the building is even opened. The figure for residential premises is 51%.<\/p>\n
The report has heartened the Architects’ Journal, which has been campaigning against any unnecessary demolition<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n Read more….<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Britain\u2019s top engineers are urging the government to stop buildings being demolished, as the co-Author of a new report steered by the Royal Academy of Engineering, Prof. Rebecca Lunn concluded that: \u2018Our biggest failure is that we build buildings, then … Continue reading