A group of UK architects, developers and contractors have called for compulsory whole-life carbon assessments of buildings in a bid to tackle "hidden" emissions caused by construction supply chains.
The Part Z group of sustainability specialists, which includes authors from the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Institution of Structural Engineers, this week launched a proposal for a new section called Part Z to be added to the building regulations.
The proposed Part Z would compel projects to report embodied carbon emissions.
The initiative also called for limits on upfront emissions to be imposed by 2027. It is supported by architects Feilden Clegg Bradley Studio, Arup and Allies & Morrison and contractors including Laing O'Rourke, BAM and Willmott Dixon. "Regulating embodied carbon is vital for the construction industry in tackling the climate crisis," said Jenny Stephens of Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios. "The industry is ready for this."
New proposal to cover projects over 1,000 square metres
The group is calling on industry leaders to support the proposals, which are published on the part-z.uk website.
The proposed new Part Z would cover any building project over 1,000 square metres. Projects would need to disclose their embodied carbon emissions, which include all emissions caused by the extraction and processing of materials as well as the construction process itself.
?For too, long embodied emissions in construction have...