Scaling Initiative
Context
The UK built environment has many of the sustainable solutions it needs to deliver net zero, nature-positive and resilient buildings and places. Across materials, digital technologies, construction systems and business models, innovation is advancing rapidly. The challenge is not in inventing new solutions, it’s in scaling them.
Too many sustainable solutions remain stuck at pilot stage. Fragmented decision making, conservative risk cultures, misaligned procurement structures, limited scale-up finance and inconsistent evidence frameworks mean promising solutions fail to become standard practice. Without faster adoption, the industry faces rising emissions, stranded asset risk and higher transition costs.
Purpose of the Scaling Initiative
UKGBC’s Scaling Initiative seeks to address some of these challenges and increase the number of innovative solutions implemented on projects, with associated social, environmental and economic benefits. It seeks to:
- Diagnose the barriers preventing widespread adoption and define practical enablers (Year 1)
- Mobilise coordinated industry action around the enablers, including exploring, developing and testing scaling pathways, demand aggregation, collaborative pilot to scale approaches, and partnership models (Year 2)
Scaling Sustainable Solutions: Barriers & Enablers Report
The first year of the initiative focussed on identifying barriers and enablers to solutions scaling through extensive research and engagement with a broad range of built environment stakeholders. The report maps and categorises these, identifying 77 actionable enablers, across seven key themes: organisational readiness; adopter needs and solution fit; finance and business models; certification and verification; risk, insurance and warranties; delivery and implementation; and outcomes and knowledge sharing.
The report then identifies priority enablers for solution providers, solution adopters and networks of organisation to collaboratively work on. This is the first output of the Scaling Initiative and seeks to be a springboard for mobilising industry action around the enablers.
Knowledge Transfer Partnership: Scaling Solutions
UKGBC is collaborating with Innovate UK and University of the Built Environment (UBE) on a Knowledge Transfer Partnership to support with the next phase of the initiative. By combining UBE’s academic expertise in scaling innovation, adoption processes and change management with UKGBC’s convening power and insight into industry practice, the KTP will help the sector overcome systemic barriers to scaling up sustainability technologies and practices.
Through primary research and extensive industry engagement, the KTP will focus on exploring, developing and testing priority enablers from the report. This will include scaling pathways for priority solution types that set out clear routes from pilot to mainstream adoption, as well as demand aggregation, collaborative pilot to scale approaches, and various forms of partnership models. Based on this work, the project will produce recommendations for key stakeholders and facilitate coordinated industry action around these pathways and enablers to accelerate adoption and scaling.
Collaborative Projects – Innovation in Commercial Retrofit
UKGBC, Breakthrough Energy and FORE Partnership have collaborated on a project to showcase and demonstrate a range of sustainability solutions for commercial retrofit. This has included:
- The publication of a Commercial Retrofit Innovation Map, a live, structured tool organising the retrofit innovation landscape into a clear taxonomy, enabling project teams to identify and compare options, and make better informed decisions.
- The application of the map to a live project context (No. 1 Poultry) to refine a process for innovation adoption and act as a demonstrator for a range of innovative solutions.
Work with us to scale solutions
Scaling Initiative Partners
UKGBC’s Scaling Initiative is made possible through the generous support of our Initiative Partners
