Approximately 2/3 of buildings that will be operating in 2040 have already been built and the operational performance of this stock, as well as how we address the embodied carbon tied up in it, is critical to support the drive to meet global sustainability targets.
By employing a combination of cutting-edge digital and traditional techniques on a needs-driven basis, we analyse more so you can build less, embracing the principles of lean design to avoid groundless interventions which bring cost and carbon.
The most sustainable building
..is the one that is never built.
It is well known that the construction industry is a key contributor to the environmental crisis. By retaining existing assets, we can save of up to 70% more embodied carbon than building new, and the sensitive retrofit of façade and MEP systems also allow us to meet increasingly stringent operational energy targets. Our seamless multi-disciplinary mindset allows us to provide a fully tailored approach to steer clients on their unique route to zero carbon.
Cradle to Cradle
Ramboll acts as a trusted technical partner for all of a building’s life stages; through operational expenditure and maintenance cycles, capital expenditure upgrades or demolition phase – whole life engineering.
A proactive asset maintenance programme that addresses issues before they impact on building safety or operation has lower payback periods and is hugely beneficial in lowering the impact of material deterioration. Tactile inspections and digital investigation techniques enable our specialist diagnostic engineers to determine underlying causes of building fabric issues and provide suitable holistic repair and management strategies for the short, medium and long term.
Where demolition is unavoidable, we audit and inventory buildings before deconstruction to develop material reuse strategies, either through retention on-site, or to feed back into the circular economy to ensure that elements and embodied carbon is retained.