The Royal Institute
of British Architects (RIBA) has published a new guide to help the wider sector
embed sustainable outcomes into practice.
The Sustainable Outcomes Guide aligns with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and
outlines eight clear, measurable goals that practices can aim for on projects
of all scales, underpinned by specific design principles to achieve them.
The RIBA Sustainable
Outcomes are:
- net zero operational carbon
- net zero embodied carbon
- sustainable water cycle
- sustainable connectivity and
transport
- sustainable land use and
bio-diversity
- good health and wellbeing
- sustainable communities and
social value
- sustainable life cycle cost
The guide has been
created to support the RIBA
2030 Climate Challenge, an initiative to encourage RIBA Chartered Practices
to achieve net zero whole life carbon for all new and retrofitted buildings by
2030.
RIBA President, Alan
Jones, said: “In order to meet the ambitious net zero in all new and
retrofitted buildings by 2030, we must employ a thorough method of assessment
that can be embedded into practice. The RIBA’s Sustainable Outcomes Guide
provides this framework and clarifies the absolute targets for a sustainable
future.
"As architects,
we are guardians of the built environment. Thanks to our education and
continuing professional development, we are equipped with the tools to combine
strategic ideas with performance and regulation, choice of material,
construction and technology – from initiation to occupancy and use. The time
for warm words is over. I urge all members to use the guide as a matter of
urgency.”
Chair of the RIBA Sustainable
Futures Group, Gary Clark, said: “The RIBA Sustainable Outcomes Guide
offers a clear road map to address the climate emergency. The differing
complexities of sustainability have been distilled into a set of eight
sustainable outcomes, aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, with
concise metrics that can be measured and verified in use.
"Only by a
rigorous ‘measurement and verification’ method of assessment can we deliver
real and lasting reductions in carbon emissions, that not only address the
climate emergency, but create beautiful places that are also sustainable.”
