Delighted to be joining a Buildings Hub session at FutureBuild in March, along with Living Building colleagues and Elementa Consulting discussing international building standards and sharing insights from Cuerden Valley.

Buildings Hub, FutureBuild
5th March, London Excel.
13.30-14.40

This session with will draw on approaches taken from international standards, such as RELI, SITEs, Ecodistricts, EDGE, Powerhouse and, above all,  the Living Building Challenge. It will examine the framework tools used and discuss their relevance to the UK. The Living Building Challenge (LBC) describes itself as the world’s most rigorous proven performance standard for buildings. It is a framework to create spaces that, like a flower, give more than they take. Through its seven petals or performance areas – water, energy, materials, place, equity, beauty, health and happiness – the LBC tackles this ambitious goal: what if every single act of design and construction could make the world a better place? LBC focuses on regenerative design to restore our environment and rethinking buildings as biological organisms integrated into our ecosystem.

EDGE (Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies) provides a quantitative, achievable and affordable standard with a path to net zero carbon. An innovation of IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, EDGE makes it faster, easier and more affordable than ever before to build and brand green in 144 countries.  Through the free online EDGE App, builders, owners, and financiers can identify the systems and solutions that work best in the local climate and context, and can calculate the return on investment from energy and water savings.

Chair: Nathan Millar, Associate Principal Sustainability, Elementa Consulting

Overview of international standards
Nathan Millar, Associate Principal Sustainability,Elementa Consulting

The Cuerden Valley Park Visitor Centre – the first building in the UK pursuing Living Building Challenge certification
Martin Brown, Sustainability Provocateur, Fairsnape, Living Building Ambassador, Strategic Advisor, Living Future Europe

Living Buildings exemplars from Seattle
Louise Hamot, Living Building Ambassador
Alkyoni Papasifaki, Living Building Ambassadors

EDGE Showcase: Case studies from around the world
Tom Saunders, EDGE Program Director, thinkstep-SGS

The conference and seminar programmes are now live on the FutureBuild website (https://www.futurebuild.co.uk/).