In fact, there’s an annual shortfall of around 59,000 graduates and technicians against available roles.

Rethinking the status quo for more sustainable building design.To rethink the status quo, we need to question how spaces have been designed traditionally, including their size, location, density and layout; and ultimately upgrade them to higher, more sustainable standards, using building physics, science and analytic tools..

Traditionally, offices in the UK are large spaces located in city centres, accommodating all staff in the same location, where connectivity and business opportunities are at hand.This idea is already being challenged by companies who are moving towards operating smaller hubs, strategically located at walking or cycling distance from the areas where staff live, often far from the city centre.. With people having demonstrated they are able to work from home effectively (and sometimes more effectively), offices do not need to be sized to operate constantly at full occupancy.This approach is beneficial for improving sustainability and work-life balance, reduces time spent commuting and lessens corporate carbon emissions from heating, cooling and especially daily commuting, which typically accounts for the highest proportion of a company’s carbon footprint.. Bryden Wood carried out an internal carbon emissions audit, which showed that the adoption of home-working can reduce corporate emissions by 69% compared to working five days a week in the office.

This is mainly due to the reduction in emissions from Scope 3 (commuting)..The price of land, especially in cities like London, has pushed developers to build deeper and taller buildings without much space for green infrastructure.

Deep plan buildings do not prioritise design for wellbeing, as they reduce daylight availability and visual connection to the outdoors, and also limit the possibility of opening windows, making them unsuitable for creating healthy indoor environments.

Moving office hubs to the urban periphery, where prices and density are lower, can create an opportunity for healthy architecture, as narrow-plate spaces provide better and healthier environmental conditions.This is how the power of kit-of-parts thinking begins to tie in with everything else.

If engineers and architects would go back to construction sites out of sheer interest, Lamont says, we could get back to the beginning of what we’re doing and achieve more human results.Ultimately, it’s a focus on connection and humanity that will facilitate the great unlock for the construction industry.. To learn more about our Design to Value approach to design and construction, sign up for our monthly newsletter here:.

http://bit.ly/BWNewsUpdatesTo stop the worst scenarios from materialising, we need to decarbonise electricity and heat production.To help do that, we must address the future of coal.