Embodied Carbon

The embodied carbon for this prohect’s offices was calculated using BS EN 15978:2011 and guidance from RICS ‘Whole life carbon assessment for the built environment’.

For the RIBA Stage 4 design, the embodied carbon to practical completion is predicted to be 904 kgCO2e/m2, showing performance to be well within the Greater London Authority benchmark of between 900-1000 kgCO2e/m2 expected for new office build construction.

The superstructure is the most significant contributor to embodied carbon made up predominantly of steel and concrete. Steel accounts for just under 40% of the total embodied carbon in the building – in order to reduce this impact, the main supplier of steel for the project  provided Environmental Product Declarations for their materials.

Concrete accounts for just over 12% of the total embodied carbon in the building – this impact was reduced by using ground granulated blast slag (a by-product from blast-furnaces used to produce iron), as a cement replacement. A range of 20-70% ground granulated blast slag was used across the building for different purposes. The 12% embodied carbon compares favourably to concrete forming 43% of the project material mass.

At project completion, it is intended that the model is updated to reflect final quantities of materials procured, all Environmental Product Declarations used on the project and final site emissions data. This will allow the most accurate embodied carbon calculation & enable us to play our part in the evolution of embodied carbon as an indicator of the environmental performance of buildings.