By Dan Cook, Chief Executive of the Active Building Centre Active Building Centre was created in 2019 as part of UKRI’s Transforming Construction Challenge. The aim was to build on the academic work of Swansea University ,and others, and to use the active building principles and apply them to real world projects. That is exactly…
Energy Systems Catapult is to be the new home for key parts of the Active Building Centre (ABC) – accelerating efforts to decarbonise the built environment. WHERE THIS ALL BEGAN The ABC was set-up in 2019, under the Government’s ***Transforming Construction Challenge. With the initial R&D funding phase as part of the UK Government’s Transforming…
As ABC’s mission is set to be boosted by joining Energy Systems Catapult, ABC’s Head of Corporate Affairs Chris Brierley caught up with ESC’s Chief Executive Officer Guy Newey … CHRIS: Guy, what attracted you to continuing the Active Building Centre mission around decarbonising the built environment ? GUY: For me, the challenge of…
Whilst media reports around replacing gas boilers usually point toward air source heat pumps as the natural replacement, there is actually an array of other tech out there, but the problem is lack of awareness and knowledge.
Start asking yourself and your peers and your leaders and boards in your organsiation, business or public sector body. What action will you actually be taking and building into your next business or operations plan to deliver improvements in Comfort, Carbon and Cost ?
Retrofitting our existing buildings stock for energy efficiency has been the cinderella of climate change policy – notably ignored in the 2006 Zero Carbon (new) Homes policy and a barely helpful backstop U value approach in the Building Regulations until this year.
Since 2019 ABC has worked with lots of organisations in the #netzero space. So with the pressure on to reach #netzero by 2050 what are the challenges facing the s
ABC was setup as part of the Government’s Transforming Construction Challenge(TCC) in 2019. Since then we have worked on over 100 + projects with the aim to help transform the built environment and to accelerate decarbonisation. The work we have done has given us great insights into what needs to be done if we are to realistically decarbonise the built environment. Last month we…
This week, ABC brought together leaders from the construction and wider #netzero sectors to discuss the challenges facing suppliers and the supply chain in the current challenging market environment, as well as how they can work together to overcome the bigger issue of decarbonising our housing stock (and other buildings).
As the Active Building Centre prepares to host a summit on the construction supply chain, ABC Industrial Engagement Lead Dr Tony Eccott takes a look at some of the issues and how the ABC is addressing them. Our supply chains are under pressure like never before. The coronavirus pandemic, labour shortages, the energy crisis and…
by Chris Brierley, Head of Corporate Affairs at the Active Building Centre The cost-of-living crisis has loomed large in the collective psyche of the British public for many months now. Most economists had already priced in soaring inflation, resulting from the post-Covid unlocking and the lift in the energy price cap, at the start of…
The Queen’s Speech, laudably, restated the need for a transition to “cheaper, cleaner and more secure energy”. What we have seen last week is merely a start towards that aim – not the complete solution which the Government seems to think it is. As well as the power plants and new technologies which ministers are right to invest in, they would do well to start their thinking much closer to people’s homes and workplaces.
By Chris Brierley, Head of Communications, Active Building Centre The Government is committed to reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050. You doubtless already know this. Everyone does. It’s an inescapable fact of public life these days. We need to reach net zero to have any hope of limiting global temperature rises, and every department…
By Lee Chambers, Chief Commercial Officer, Active Building Centre Following the ambitious targets the government set at COP26 last year, decarbonising buildings will be central to meeting our Net Zero goals. There are over 27 million homes in the UK, and 60% of their energy is used for heating. With demand for housing showing no…
At our site in Berkeley, we act as a test bed, with our model homes and a community heat network demonstrating which technologies work and which don’t, doing the difficult work of trial and error for construction companies. We can bring together the best technologies and experts from all over the world to see what works in a live, real world environment.
BREAKING NEWS ABC HAS A NEW CHIEF
Last week the government announced a tenfold expansion in chargepoints by 2030 as ministers look to “drive the EV revolution”. Here’s some points from us: Charge points are still too few and far between, and by recognising this and taking action, last week’s announcement expanding the UK’s Electric Vehicle charging network to around 300,000 public…
On 10th March, Lee Chambers, ABC’s Chief Commercial Officer, took part in an international panel discussion on the role of 3D digital twins and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) on the road to the decarbonisation of buildings. This was part of IIoT World’s Smart Cities & Buildings Day, which brought together subject matter experts,…
With unprecedented challenges currently facing global energy supplies, there has never been a more apposite time to be discussing upgrades to our national grid infrastructure. Any updates must guarantee that we can supply enough power to fuel our activities, buildings and vehicles safely and sustainably, both now and into the future.
Even without a dramatic leap forward in technology, much of the kit we will use in the zero-carbon houses of the future is already available off the shelf. The challenge is to integrate these in the optimal configuration. Educating councils, developers, housebuilders and homeowners is therefore critically important.
Today is International Women’s Day! At ABC 42 % of our workforce are female.
For us at ABC, we have been clear it’s always been about real world, real projects, real people, and that has given us a unique position in the transforming construction arena.
By Andrew Perry, Chief Operating Officer at the Active Building Centre Wales has been at the vanguard of the response to the climate emergency – both within the UK and around the world. That has been apparent to us at the Active Building Centre since even before our organisation came into being in 2018. We…
The challenge of climate change demands action; in the built environment more than any other sector. But it requires that action understands what works, the networks and interfaces between different built assets, and the complex system of systems that encompasses the places where we live and work, and how to adapt this for a better future.
ABC’s mission is underpinned by that simple question. We can work for the buildings – why can’t we make buildings work for us?