Trends in Sustainable Solutions for the Built Environment - Reflecting on 2024
Buildings are a crucial area of opportunity when it comes to environmental and social sustainability, as reflected at COP29 with the launch of the Intergovernmental Council for Buildings and Climate.
In 2024, it was promising to see the new Government accelerating green reforms and demonstrating a strong narrative around climate ambitions, particularly in relation to new build and retrofit. Going forward the hope is this narrative crystalises into tangible and robust policies, importantly as the UK’s Climate Change Committee’s new Progress Report saw buildings emerge as a priority item on the agenda putting them in the focus for decarbonisation efforts.
However, this is a steep challenge as the industry needs to almost halve its emissions by 2030 (compared to a 2018 baseline) and decarbonise fully by 2050, while addressing other areas of sustainability, including enhancing resilience, social value, health & wellbeing, nature & biodiversity and reducing resource use. Meeting this challenge not only requires innovation in technologies, business models and ways of operating, but also increased and more strategic implementation of existing sustainable solutions.

This report summarises a range of sustainable solution trends that UKGBC has seen over the course of 2024, provides context on their use, and comments on the relevant driving forces in the UK market. The solutions discussed range from innovative new platforms and materials to transformative business models and processes. The analysis is based on engagement with innovation-focused UKGBC members (including input from UKGBC’s Solutions & Innovation Advisory Group), interviews with UKGBC topic leads, and desktop research.
We need holistic solutions that look beyond addressing individual challenges, generating co-benefits and minimising negative externalities. Examples of these include:
-Nature-based solutions (which have a positive impact on biodiversity, climate resilience, health and wellbeing and climate mitigation) as well as,
-Building materials that consider embodied carbon alongside embodied social and ecological impacts.
Across the built environment value chain, there is also a clear need for upskilling to ensure innovative solutions can be effectively implemented and installed, and to build confidence in their use. Certain topic areas are also experiencing a proliferation of solutions including platforms and frameworks, which must be effectively embedded across the sector to maximise impact. To support this, UKGBC is launching a new Scaling Sustainable Solutions for the Built Environment initiative to overcome barriers to solution adoption and better connect challenge holders with solution providers.
UKGBC does not formally endorse any of the solutions presented in this report. It is intended as a signpost and a source of inspiration for built environment stakeholders, who should always carry out their own due diligence before adoption. While this is a summary of some of the notable solutions of which UKGBC has become aware, there are likely to be other solutions available but not mentioned. Discover more solutions in our Solutions Library.
Key themes of 2024
UKGBC does not formally endorse any of the solutions presented in this report. It is intended as a signpost and to offer a source of inspiration for built environment stakeholders, who should always carry out their own due diligence before adoption. While this is a summary of some of the notable solutions UKGBC has seen, there are likely to be other solutions available but not mentioned. Discover more solutions in our Solutions Library.
Fundamental change, regenerative design and organisational transformation
An overarching theme to this report is that we need to create the suitable conditions for innovative solutions to be effectively scaled and deployed. While many of the solutions to the sustainability challenges we face already exist or are being developed, there are structural barriers within the built environment system that can impede their successful adoption. Momentum is growing behind calls for a more radical transformation of the systems we operate within to achieve a built environment that is not only sustainable, but one that positively restores and revitalises the world around us. To do this, we must challenge our assumptions and business-as-usual practices that prioritise profit and GDP growth often above social and environmental factors. Participants in UKGBC’s Systems Change Programme aligned behind the simple observation that “we are the system”, highlighting the agency that we all have to bring about such necessary change.
Within progressive business practice, there is a growing shift towards building on existing concepts of sustainability and mitigating and minimising harm, towards approaches that actively regenerate ecological and social systems. The idea of adding more value than you extract is not unachievable. Systemiq’s recent report highlights a range of examples of regenerative projects from around the world. At the building level, the Living Building Challenge is a certification program providing a framework to support the design of buildings with regenerative, net positive outcomes. In 2024, Architects Declare also launched a Regenerative Design Primer which sets out key practical suggestions around regenerative design. The Regenerative Architecture Index builds on this, benchmarking progress in the move towards regenerative practice and projects. At the product level, carpet manufacturer Interface has piloted a “Factory as a Forest” which uses biomimicry to create a factory which seeks to deliver the same benefits as a high-performing ecosystem.
A critical leverage point to drive wider systemic change is transformation at the organisational level. Becoming a purpose-driven organisation is a concept gaining rapid momentum, including a new ISO standard (ISO/AWI 37011) being developed to provide guidance, building on PAS 808. There are also emerging alternative governance structures aimed at increasing the voice of different stakeholders, such as ‘putting nature on the board’ and the Future Guardian Model. By bringing in diverse and usually under-represented voices and considering the needs of wider stakeholders beyond shareholders, greater priority can be given to holistic sustainability challenges and the solutions that address them. This approach seeks to move from short-term profit creation towards long-term value creation, supporting a shift in decision-making where the needs of nature, communities, and employees are central.
Many organisations have also made stretching public climate commitments that can unlock funding opportunities for sustainability as they work towards their targets. One approach for this is setting an internal carbon price, which can act as a powerful organisational transformation tool and unlock internal funding for sustainability initiatives.
If we are to transition towards a regenerative built environment and successfully implement the solutions that support this systemic shift, effective change management is needed at the organisational level. This can involve significant changes to governance structures, remuneration and incentives, operating models, product and service lines, supply chains, data systems, internal culture, and much more. These shifts create the conditions for innovation to thrive.
Place-based approaches and community co-design
As the topic of regenerative design gains traction, we are seeing a connected movement of more place-based approaches to achieving social and environmental impact. This is also reflected in the UK Government’s plan for devolution across the north of England. UKGBC’s Regenerative Places Programme is responding to this in two ways, firstly through working with the MCS Foundation on the Local Area Retrofit Accelerator (LARA), collaborating with four pilot Local Authorities to take a system-led approach to developing local retrofit strategies. Secondly, through exploring how innovative place-based strategies could enhance local network capacity, boost resilience and deliver regenerative benefits to communities and nature.
Place-based approaches can also include solutions around community engagement, including Built-ID, Commonplace, Go Vocal and Maptionnaire. Some of these can also turn community insights into real GIS data to support inclusive planning and decision making. Various platforms also harness the power of digital technology to facilitate community co-design, like Geodesign Hub, and Block by Block, which utilises Minecraft as a participatory design tool in urban design and governance. The use of digital technology for community engagement and co-design must be carefully considered to ensure it does not exclude certain groups unable to access the technology. It should not be seen as a complete substitute for other forms of physical engagement, but a way to enhance it and reach a more diverse audience.
Taking a place-based approach can also involve job creation for local people, for example GoodPeople is working to connect diverse local communities to local jobs that drive social and climate impact through their Net Zero Careers Accelerator.
Decentralisation can also include manufacturing processes. Automated Architecture has developed a hardware-as-a-service model for pop-up micro factories. These factories can enable community participation and rapid manufacturing of timber homes.
Densification and democratisation of space
The UK is facing a serious housing crisis, and it is becoming increasingly apparent we need creative ways to meet our housing needs that make the best use of available space and existing buildings, and ensures housing is affordable.
Many innovators are exploring ways in which we can construct and own buildings that support local community wealth building and increase affordability. Co-operative housing is one such solution, where the building is owned by the inhabitants and therefore self-governed, without extraction of rent. Community Land Trusts (CLT) are democratic, non-profit organisations that own and develop land for the benefit of communities, like Granby Four Streets. We Can Make is another example of a CLT and has developed a framework for developing homes on microsites utilising modern methods of construction in a community micro-factory. This approach enables cheaper rent while providing local jobs and resulting in gentle densification.
The idea of densification and making better use of our existing built environment is also being explored by other innovators. Optoppen uses timber and other biomaterials to construct sustainable, lightweight roof extensions, increasing floor area. ZED PODS has developed a methodology for constructing homes above car parks using offsite modern methods of construction (MMC) technology. The new Government has also given the green light to build homes above Cockfosters station carpark. There are many vacant spaces in the built environment which can be put to use. Grand Bequest has developed an AI platform for historic vacant buildings to be redeveloped and put back into use, while prioritising social impact in communities. Optimisation of space utilisation can also be for temporary purposes, for example Meanwhile Space brings temporarily redundant spaces into productive use for the benefit of community cohesion, placemaking and enterprise.
Supply chain sustainability
Supply chain decarbonisation is another critical area gaining traction, partly driven by organisations reporting on their scope 3 emissions. According to a recent Cemex Ventures report, supply chains held the greatest opportunity for improvement and highest impact potential in 2024. Anticipating the need in this area, UKGBC has launched a new workstream on Supply Chain Decarbonisation to enable cross-sector collaboration on this topic.
Solutions in this space include new financial mechanisms to enable organisations to invest in their supply chain to support with decarbonisation (for example The Reduction Network). In addition, many large organisations are developing supplier engagement programmes to support in achieving sustainability requirements and increase collaboration (examples include BAM and Berkeley Group). As organisations seek to address scope 3 emissions, there will likely be greater procurement of low carbon materials, including low carbon concrete, timber, bio-material and greater utilisation of reused materials (see “Innovative Building Materials” from last year’s Trends Report).
Solution providers are also trying to address the challenges around transparency, data gathering and engagement in the supply chain through technology. One area of innovation is the tracking of materials, for example through the use of blockchain. VeChain is one such solution which uses RFID tags and Internet of Things devices to record the movement of products. Once you have gathered data there are various tools that can help you visualise and optimise your supply chain (for example supply chain digital twins). Other solutions focus on collecting and rating sustainability information about different suppliers and facilitating supplier engagement (for example EcoVadis).
There are also solutions that seek to enhance collaboration in specific areas of the supply chain. One example of this is Integrated Project Insurance, which collectively insures the client and all other project team partners, resulting in a blame free approach and incentivising collaboration on projects.
Renewable Energy Systems
Last year saw the close of the last of the UK’s coal fired power plants, an important milestone in the nation’s journey to net zero. Alongside this, the UK’s transition to renewable energy is accelerating, spurred by the establishment of the National Electricity System Operator (NESO) in response to the ambitious target of decarbonising the grid by 2030. In addition, the creation of Great British Energy represents a move towards more public ownership of our energy system. Noa’s recent “State of Built World Tech 2024” report highlights grid technologies as a key theme to address growing grid congestion in various ways.
Reinforcing the grid is a critical part in achieving the UK’s net zero targets as we need faster upgrades of electrical substations to overcome grid capacity issues. This becomes particularly critical as we continue to electrify our buildings and transport, which further highlights the need to reduce energy demand within buildings (see ‘Retrofit’ section below). As well as reducing overall demand, smart demand management to respond to the availability of renewable electricity in the grid will also play a key role. There is a variety of solutions that can support with this, including more thermally efficient buildings, thermal storage, electric batteries, smart meters, optimisation platforms, virtual power plants and platforms that match assets with flexibility incentives (for example Axle Energy).
It is important that we create the necessary demand signals to encourage decarbonisation of the grid. Throughout 2024, UKGBC’s Renewable Energy Procurement Guidance has begun to be applied, with large built environment organisations approaching suppliers asking for offerings that meet the three principles of the guidance: Renewable, Additionality and Time-matched. This guidance calls on built environment stakeholders to better collaborate with the electricity market to ensure their procurement drives meaningful transformation of our electricity system. Time matching is particularly critical for incentivising demand management to times when there is greatest availability of renewables in the grid. Tracking supply and demand at an hourly level and suppliers offering price incentives for time-matching will be the primary approach. Others are emerging, for instance Energy Tag is developing a model of a time-based certificate market.
Increasingly, buildings are becoming so-called ‘prosumers’ of energy, meaning they both produce and consume electricity, making them active parts of the energy system. Various mechanisms exist to encourage greater asset-level electricity generation. Some platforms help identify suitable assets for installing renewable energy like PVs, for example PowerMarket. Others are aimed at aggregating installation, for example Solar Together, which enables group buying of solar PV and energy storage systems at reduced costs. Platforms like InRange, PowerMarket and UrbanChain enable organisations to sell energy generated onsite or share it with other buildings in the same portfolio, providing an additional income stream for asset owners and incentivising greater capacity of solar to be installed. Technology can also be used to identify which buildings are most suitable for solar (for example Absolar, DirtSat and Solsign). With this digitalisation also comes requirements for greater levels of cyber security to ensure our utilities are safe, reliable and resilient.
Retrofit
Retrofit continues to be a critical area, and the Labour Government has committed an increased investment of £6.6bn to upgrade homes as part of the Warm Homes Plan. However, this falls short of UKGBC’s recommended £64bn for a comprehensive investment plan into retrofitting low-income households and social housing, a national information service, skills training and local authority capacity building.
Alongside continuing to advocate for appropriate retrofit spending and policy by Government, it is critical that we find other innovative mechanisms to fund retrofit. In 2024, the Green Finance Institute published a report looking at Property Linked Finance, where investments in energy efficiency upgrades are linked to the property rather than the owner, reducing the payback period barrier. This has already been implemented in the US through the PACE Programs. Furthermore, Octopus Energy’s ‘Zero Bills’ energy tariff has expanded to include retrofit properties, which involves installing green energy technology and utilising its Kraken platform to connect and optimise energy use to deliver zero bills.
There are promising signs at the local level, with local councils showing increased ambition when it comes to retrofit, and Westminster City Council encouraging a retrofit-first approach.UKGBC’s Regenerative Places Programme is working with four local councils to take a holistic approach to place-based retrofit. At both local and national level, there continues to be a proliferation of retrofit service providers, many of which are mentioned and compared in UKGBC’s recent ‘Facilitating Retrofit’ report.
Upskilling is another critical area when it comes to retrofit, particularly around home retrofit due to the number of installers required. Solution providers like Get Zero, Greenworkx, The Retrofit Academy and Supply Chain Sustainability School are trying to plug this gap. Last year, the Government introduced the Heat Training Grant to incentivise heating engineers to become heat pump installers. Technological innovators in the retrofit space must therefore ensure they have a network of installers able to deploy their solutions effectively.
In the commercial buildings space, drivers such as the potential updates to the UK’s Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards by a new government, corporate ESG targets and increasing occupier demand are requiring more owners to retrofit. Various commercial retrofit tools exist to help building and portfolio owners understand the most effective retrofit measures for their buildings and plan decarbonisation pathways.
When it comes to the retrofit itself, there are different phases to consider with varying levels of impact, which are explored in UKGBC’s Retrofitting Office Buildings report. The first is optimisation, and solutions include various platforms to monitor and analyse building energy information, autonomous control of HVAC and wider building systems (for example Optimise AI and Trigrr) and sensor solutions (for example LightFi).
The next phases are light retrofit, which involves basic remodelling of building elements (usually of one aspect or feature), and deep retrofit which is a more fundamental change to the building and usually requires partial or complete shutdown of the building and services. Solutions in this area include fabric upgrades, such as innovative window solutions (for example Luxwall), and sustainable building insulation systems. Physical building service upgrades can also support, including sustainable ductwork (for example EcoDuct), heat transfer fluids which reduce energy use in heating and cooling systems (for example Hyrdomx) and air sealing technologies (for example Aeroseal).
Due to the variety of stakeholders involved in the built environment is it also important to engage and incentivise them effectively. UpGreen is developing a funding model to engage more SMEs in retrofit and CUBE Competition is gamifying energy savings to encourage participation and engagement.
It is important we do not take a blinkered approach to considering retrofit options, as using only asset level whole life carbon assessments does not consider the wider system impacts. If we do not invest in fabric improvements to bring down energy demand from buildings, we will need to build in greater capacity in an already strained grid. This has embodied carbon implications of its own, and means the grid will not decarbonise in line with our targets, resulting in more operational CO2 being produced. This further highlights the importance of systems thinking and a holistic approach to decision making.
Net Zero Buildings and Whole Life Carbon
Last year saw the launch of the Pilot Version of the landmark UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard – a collaborative, industry-led initiative to set science-led limits and targets for different kinds of buildings to be defined as net zero, aligned to the UK’s carbon and energy budgets. It also sets out all the requirements and approach to verifying these have been achieved. There is positive sentiment from industry and government around how the standard can be used to inform policy. The standard is intended to reduce confusion and greenwashing around net zero building claims. Another market driver is the Net Zero Buildings Strategy which the Minister for Energy Consumers has confirmed will be set out after the completion of the Spending Review Process.
Alongside this are greater calls for whole life carbon assessment and embodied carbon being included in legislation. This is already starting to happen at the local level, including in the London Plan. Westminster Council has been collaborating with Preoptima to develop PACER, a tool to empower local planning authorities to achieve whole life carbon compliance and bridge the skills gap. On the topic of upskilling, ensuring consistency in approaches to carrying out Life Cycle Assessments is critical in ensuring reliability and comparability. Free training is being provided in this area by the One Click LCA Academy and Construction Carbon (which is now being delivered through CIBSE).
Ensuring whole life carbon is minimised requires consideration from the earliest point in the design process. AI and generative design can be used to analyse different design alternatives and optimise decision making for minimal whole life carbon (for example Carbon Designer 3D, Preoptima and Structural Panda). ViridiPath tracks changes in carbon emissions throughout a project, from design to completion, using data from whole life carbon assessments so you can track performance in real time.
AI has the potential to be used to accelerate the work of creating LCAs and EPDs (for example Emidat and Pathways). This helps more innovative products get to market, by reducing the cost of gathering the required data for their specification. There is especially a growing number of requests for EPDs for MEP and HVAC, which have proven challenging in the past. Companies such as EcoDuct have developed EPDs for their core products and One Click LCA’s MEP Carbon Tool is also aimed at addressing this challenge.
Carbon offsetting and storage
Many businesses are recognising the importance of carbon removals. Some innovators are exploring on-site solutions, including Cyanoskin which is developing an algae-based coating that enables buildings to absorb carbon dioxide, and Ventrix Labs which is exploring onsite Direct Air Capture (DAC) using existing building infrastructure. Other innovators are focussed on larger scale modular DAC (for example Airhive, Climeworks and Mission Zero Technology), however bringing down energy consumption of DAC remains a challenge.
Other innovators are working to store carbon dioxide in building materials, for example concrete (see CarbonCure or Seratech) and within façade systems (for example Reaforma). All the solutions in this space must ensure the carbon is being appropriately accounted for and not double counted, so that materials do not sell credits and claim reduced embodied carbon simultaneously. These materials also must consider how they are treated at end of life to ensure long term storage.
Many UK businesses are also wanting to invest in local offsets, however of the estimated £150m spent on carbon credits in 2021, only 1% was spent on UK-based offsetting schemes. An example of this is the growing momentum around the idea of using carbon credits to fund local social housing retrofit, which is being explored by organisations such as HACT and PNZ Carbon. Other UK examples include the Woodland Carbon Code, Peatland Code and Soil Code, as well as UK-based regenerative agriculture projects and enhanced rock weathering (for example UNDO). Arup and BusinessLDN have proposed a business-led UK Collective Offsetting Fund. This would enable aggregated and more consistent investment in UK offsetting projects and all their associated co-benefits, such as nature restoration and generating social value.
Nature, biodiversity and embodied ecological impacts
In its manifesto, Labour committed to creating places that promote nature recovery, planting millions of trees, and expanding nature-rich habitats such as wetlands, peat bogs and forests. Last year’s Trends Report explored some of the solutions available in relation to nature & biodiversity, including digital solutions to support with Biodiversity Net Gain, physical interventions and monitoring and design tools. National Biodiversity Net Gain legislation, as well as local policies like the Urban Greening Factor in London have driven greater consideration of nature within development decision making. This includes looking at how nature can be better integrated into projects, whether that be through green roofs, walls or onsite planting and landscaping.
Nature Tech has seen rapid development within recent years. Many platforms are using geospatial and satellite data to carry out assessments on the state of nature (for example Orbify) and some combine this data with citizen participation for data gathering (for example Space4Nature). There are also various smart sensors and ‘Internet of Things’ devices that support with monitoring, for example Plant Spike which monitors urban soil health as well as 3Bee and AgriSound which uses acoustic technology to monitor insect species. Some platforms utilise AI to explore wildlife trends, for example Wildlife Insights which applies machine learning to camera traps.
Momentum is growing towards expanding beyond embodied carbon and also considering the embodied ecological impacts of building materials. There are several innovators trying to use LCA frameworks for quantifying biodiversity loss, but this approach still needs development and refinement. To address embodied ecological impacts effectively, materiality assessments are likely to become more commonplace. In 2024, voluntary disclosures began under the Task Force for Nature Related Financial Disclosures, which requires disclosure of organisations’ impact on nature, and nature’s impact on organisations (double materiality).
Funding for nature, adaptation and resilience
Unlocking finance for nature, resilience and adaptation remains a key challenge. Nature markets which use a credit system to allow companies to offset their impacts (similar to carbon credits) are gaining momentum. Concerns remain over the exploitation that may come about because of the commodification of nature. As such, other options include crowdfunding and community investment platforms which have the dual benefit of engaging the public and giving them a sense of ownership (for example Crowdfunder, Projects for Nature and Spacehive).
Financial barriers to climate resilience are not just about overcoming short-term profit incentives, but also about bridging the gap between climate adaptation and mitigation, and supporting a holistic perspective where there are co-benefits to particular investments. Effective solutions, such as better energy and water management, material sourcing, and improving the efficiency of buildings, demonstrate that adaptation and mitigation efforts can support each other and foster broader prosperity (See Cundall’s example here). Investing in nature-based solutions is one of the best examples, as these not only reduce the impact of climate hazards but also generate value through enhanced ecosystem services, supporting nature efforts, and reducing long-term cost savings.
For larger scale projects in both nature and adaptation measures, alternative financial models include green bonds (SEI), innovative use of public budgets, grants and donations, sustainability-linked bonds, community-driven initiatives, blended finance and various revenue generating mechanisms (for example value capture). Key to these approaches is also understanding the value of Nature-Based Solutions, as explored in this UKGBC report. The 2018, Climate Finance Lab, worked to support these innovative financing solutions and helped ten cities across the UK and Europe improve the sustainability of their development efforts.
Moreover, policies like the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) can help align financial systems with both societal and environmental objectives, supporting long-term climate resilience and improving quality of life for communities.
Resilience and adaptation technology
Over 55% of homes in England already overheat during relatively mild summers. With a predicted 1.5°C rise above pre-industrial levels in the next five years, the urgency of investing in climate adaptation is clear. It’s not just about overheating—climate hazards are becoming more severe and include storms, flooding, drought, wildfire and more. UKGBC’s Climate Resilience Roadmap is seeking to create a robust, evidence-based pathway to a climate safe built environment. This includes raising awareness of climate hazards and their impacts, developing ways of measuring resilience, as well as pinpointing essential actions.
Technology can play a key role in accelerating climate resilience efforts by enhancing awareness and supporting the monitoring of climate hazards across various geographic areas and asset scales. Nevertheless, the Climate Policy Initiative and Global Center on Adaptation estimate $1.1tn of finance is required globally between 2021-2030 for adaptation, which PropTech1 and DWR Eco estimate includes $44bn required for climate impact adaptation technology. So-called ‘AdaptationTech’ can include risk and hazard detection platforms, both for early warning notification systems, but also for understanding the long-term climate risks to buildings (for example Climanomics, Climate X, EarthScan, Intensel, Raincoat and Waterplan). Internet of Things solutions for infrastructure can also support leak detection for water infrastructure to reduce flooding risk and smart irrigation to minimise water use in droughts. Hydrawise can optimise irrigation using local weather data and soil moisture sensors, resulting in water savings of up to 50%. Smart technologies can also support with stormwater management by retaining and releasing water depending on weather forecasts, such as this smart blue-green roof system.
Innovation in insurance is also a growing area, with parametric insurance products like FloodFlash and WeatherMind automatically paying out when certain triggers are reached, and satellite data being used to enable real time response to natural disasters.
Water use
As water bills are set to increase in coming years, and drought risks in the UK become more prominent, it becomes critical that we encourage sustainable water management. We need to ensure we mitigate and are prepared for the risks of water poverty, for many households, as well as other essential and vulnerable asset types (e.g. hospitals, schools). Some local councils, like Crawley Borough Council, now require new developments to be water neutral, which is where a development does not increase the rate of water extraction above existing levels. Many solutions exist to reduce water use within buildings, including more water-efficient toilets (for example Encore Cistern that flushes with AC unit wastewater and Propelair with air) and showers (for example Kelda Showers which is now recognised in SAP calculations). Some technologies can even create clean water, for example Source which can pull water vapour from the air and use sunlight to convert it into safe drinking water. Leakage is also a key reason for water wastage, and solutions to address this include GUARDIAN, Showerkap, WINT and Watergate’s Sonic with some of these solutions also supporting with legionella monitoring.
In parts of the UK, water storage must become mandatory to address water scarcity and manage extreme weather events like droughts, especially as water use becomes a growing resilience issue. Integrating storage solutions into buildings offers a key strategy for managing water supply and mitigating climate-related impacts to operations, health and wellbeing.
Reuse hubs and marketplaces
In its manifesto, Labour committed to moving towards a circular economy and has begun appointing industry, academic, and civil society groups to the new Circular Economy Taskforce to help design fresh policy regime for waste, recycling, and reuse in the UK.
As the concept of a circular economy gains political traction and becomes more widely known, different avenues for material reuse hubs are being developed. This includes digital reuse hubs and various material reuse marketplaces (as explored in last year’s Trends Report). However, challenges remain due to the fragmentation of marketplaces and sourcing the materials at scale, storing them and timing their procurement. Some innovators are trying to address this by offering material brokerage services based on pre-demolition audits (for example Circotrade, Material Index, PreaDeM and Romulus) and others offer storage and facilitate reinsurance to encourage uptake (for example Concular). Innovators that address the scale and physicality of building materials and offer supporting services alongside their digital platforms are likely to be more helpful for industry. Some local authorities have also been trialling physical reuse hubs, like West Midlands Combined Authority, and digital reuse hubs like Enfield Council’s trial with Excess Material Exchange. Others focus on material type, with particular focus on the particularly wasteful fit out sector, like Recolight, which is trying to reduce lighting waste, and FIS Project Reuse.
Material passports
Material passports continued to gain traction in 2024. These are instruments that offer a platform and repository for storing, linking and providing relevant information to actors along the value chain. They can range from material to building level and can even aggregate up to city level to understand material stocks and flows. Various platforms have emerged to generate and store material passport information, including Circuland, Madastar, Material Index and Upcylea. Consensus has not yet been reached on the scope and approach of these passports, however the European Commission is looking at regulation regarding a Digital Product Passport for the construction sector. Within industry, The Waterman Group recently published a Materials Passport Framework, and Orms has published a policy paper on the topic.
There are opportunities here for material passports to unlock innovation across the supply chain, in both the data gathering process and data sharing, enabling better digitisation of the construction industry. Material passports have the potential to be a single source of truth for materials, including embodied carbon, embodied ecological impacts and certification details.
Summary
This report has highlighted the solutions that are being developed and deployed against the overarching trends we are observing in the built environment. The opportunities for transformation exist, but we need to overcome uncertainty and embrace these opportunities to maximise impact. UKGBC is a strong advocate for this and is keen to work with both industry, Government and other sectors to overcome barriers and drive change.
It is important that industry moves into a period of solution implementation in the second half of this decade of action. To drive this, UKGBC’s new Scaling Sustainable Solutions initiative seeks to work with members to identify opportunities, break down barriers to implementation, more proactively connect innovators with challenge holders and share learnings from previous examples. Alongside this, UKGBC will continue to raise awareness around the transformational changes required to radically shift the sustainability of the built environment.
If you know of any innovative solutions or start-ups doing important work to improve the sustainability of the built environment, please encourage them to submit their solution for inclusion in UKGBC’s Solutions Library. You can find out more about UKGBC’s work on Solutions & Innovation here, and to explore collaboration opportunities please email innovation@ukgbc.org.
Acknowledgements
Authors:
- Emily-Rose Garnett, Solutions & Innovation Senior Advisor, UKGBC
- Bradley Nissen, Solutions & Innovation Coordinator, UKGBC
Editors
- Smith Mordak, Chief Executive, UKGBC
- Yetunde Abdul, Director of Industry Transformation, UKGBC
- Kirsty Girvan, Policy and Public Affairs Advisor UKGBC
Contributors
- Alex Benstead, Senior Advisor – Advancing Net Zero, UKGBC
- Anna Hollyman, Co-Head of Policy and Places, UKGBC
- Catriona Hyland, Investment Research, NOA
- Clare Wilde, Project Officer – Circular Economy & Nature, UKGBC
- Hannah Giddings, Head of Climate Resilience and Adaptation, UKGBC
- Joanne Wheeler, Co-Head of Policy & Places, UKGBC
- Kai Liebetanz, Head of Nature, UKGBC
- Lucy Rees, Head of Insights and Systems Change, UKGBC
- Macarena Cárdenas, Senior Advisor – Resilience and Nature, UKGBC
- Phanos Hadjikyriakou, Co-Founder and CEO, 2050 Materials
- Sami Walter, Investment Associate, Oxford Science Enterprises
- Simon Matthews, Advisor – Advancing Net Zero, UKGBC
- Steven Zijlstra, Product Marketing Manager, One Click LCA
- Taylor Wescoatt, General Partner, Concrete VC
- Tom Wigg, Senior Advisor – Advancing Net Zero, UKGBC
Workshop attendees
- Paloma Hermoso, Associate Partner & Retrofit Lead, Ward Williams Associates
- Monica Donaldson-Balan, Associate Building Physics Engineer, Mott MacDonald
- Marion Delaney, Advisor, Hydrock
- Ankita Dwivedi, CEO & Co-Founder, Firstplanit
- Victoria Burrows, Strategic Partnerships & Insights, KOMPAS VC
- Catriona Hyland, Investment Research Analyst, NOA
- Tim Forman, Partner & Founder, Undivided Ventures
- Francesco Pomponi, Co-Founder and CSO, Preoptima
- Lydia Dutton, Director – Regional Sustainability Lead, CBRE
- Hayley Newman, Associate Director – Sustainability, MAPP
- Katie Smart, Principal Sustainability Consultant, Hoare Lea
- Romain Richli, Pre-construction Deputy Director, Bouygues UK
- Kingma Ma, Managing Director UK, Proptech1 Ventures
- Eliot Powell, Sustainability Consultant, Troup Bywaters + Anders LLP