Essay Land Securities: Corporate Social Responsibility – Social Work Assignment Help

Assignment Task

This interpretation of the strategy would suggest the new zero carbon building protocol is notable for covering the material embodied in the design, construction, operation and use stages. Furthermore, if we compare the contribution this technique of analysis makes to the UK Government’s strategy for Sustainable Construction, it is  also notable for the reason the results which emerge are mixed. For while successfully tackling the lower emissions  target, it fails to meet the lower cost benchmark and has little to say on the faster delivery objective. However, perhaps most concerning is the tendency for the protocol to leave the whole question of embodied carbon in life  cycle assessment hanging. In that sense hanging over the extent to which it is captured in the system set up as a stage for design to de-materialise the construction, operation and use of buildings and account for this footprint as part of the drive to net zero carbon buildings.  In that sense, hanging over the question of accounting for the stage  at which any decarbonisation of such footprint fits into the calculus for net zero buildings. For if the balance struck  is to only capture the construction stage and leave the use and operation of buildings to a separate accounting  system, this begs the following questions: 

-to what extent does the magnitude of carbon accounted for in the construction stage qualify buildings as net zero;
-how and to what degree is sequestration key to the environmental sustainability of this. 
 

We set embodied carbon targets for all our major developments and assess them through a recognised methodology, to understand where to focus our efforts for maximum impact. The first step is to simplify our designs to limit the cost of materials. Buying fewer materials is the best way to reduce carbon. For instance, at Lucent W1, we’re reducing embodied carbon by 20% by designing the structure to be leaner and simpler to build, alongside specifying low-carbon materials. This will save materials and programme costs. We’re also adopting modern methods of construction, such as a platform approach to design for manufacture and assembly, reducing the construction time, waste and cost. At Sumner Street, this approach achieves a reduction of over 19% in embodied carbon compared to traditional construction methods.