World News- 14th November 2021

Fig 1.1 A decade of action RIBA (RIBA, 2021)​

RIBA release results of 2021 ‘Decade of Action Survey’​

The RIBA has released the findings of its ‘Decade of Action’ survey which was answered by over 600 UK Architects assessing their commitment to designing sustainable architecture. It has identified some of the biggest problems causing drawbacks in the fight for low carbon architecture. The survey shows increase in the commitment from last year:​

• 72% of participants stated that their “organisation has a commitment to addressing the climate emergency” – up from 66% last year.​

• 54% agreed that “sustainability is at the core of everything my organisation does” – up from 47%.​

• 51% described their projects as “sustainable” – a slight increase from 48% (Chiswell-White, 2021)​

Almost all acknowledged the importance of lowering embodied carbon, water and energy however very little admitted to carrying out whole life carbon assessments post-completion (Chiswell-White, 2021) which suggests a lack of commitment when it comes to action.​

30% of Architects said that the UN sustainable development goals were important, with nearly the same amount (29%) saying they were not (Chiswell-White, 2021).​

How will we overcome these barriers at INFINITY STUDIOS?​

Cost restraints- there are a range of cost-efficient sustainable design features which we can offer to suit different budgets. For example, reclaimed or recycled insulation. A lot of sustainable features such as log burners and solar panels may seem like a large investment but will save money in the long run.​

Client requirements- We have tailored our website to outline what we can do for small, medium and large-scale buildings to that clients can choose which would suit their requirements best and see what we propose to do at each scale. This will show clients from the beginning what sustainable features we propose to add so we can work around any restraints these may cause, so we can build sustainable without it compromising their design which may cause them to back out of sustainable features.​

Lack of client engagement- there is a lack of client engagement in 2021 because there are no building regulations demanding low carbon designs, meaning people are allowed to build architecture with no consideration for the environment. However, Infinity Studios is created in 2028 with the CNDG being released in 2022- outlining requirements for Low Carbon Designs (see News Blog 4) and the UK Government has also confirmed plans for new homes to be ‘Zero Carbon ready’ by 2025, meaning clients will have to engage with the concept of low carbon designs or they will not get planning permission.

Fig 1.2 UN Sustainable Design Goals Excel spreadsheet (Infinity Studios, 2021)

The UN Sustainable Development Goals and accompanying RIBA Sustainable Outcomes Guide provide a blueprint for a sustainable future – I urge architects to utilise them both.” (Simon Allford, 2021). We have designed our Ethos around the ideas outlined in the UN Sustainable development goals and have identified which job roles cross over with each UN sustainable development goal so that we can work on these in our individual areas.​

Image references​

1.1 RIBA, 2021., A decade of action [Digital image] Architecture (RIBA). Available at: https://www.architecture.com/knowledge-and-resources/knowledge-landing-page/a-decade-of-action-update-riba-publishes-2021-ethics-and-sustainability-survey-findings [Date Accessed 14th November]​

1.2 Infinity Studios, 2021., UN Sustainable Design Goals Excel spreadsheet [Unpublished] ​

Bibliography​

Allford, S., 2021. A ‘Decade of Action’ update – RIBA publishes 2021 ethics and sustainability survey findings [Online] RIBA. Available at: https://www.architecture.com/knowledge-and-resources/knowledge-landing-page/a-decade-of-action-update-riba-publishes-2021-ethics-and-sustainability-survey-findings [Date Accessed 14th November 2021]​

Chiswell-White, A., 2021. A ‘Decade of Action’ update – RIBA publishes 2021 ethics and sustainability survey findings [Online] RIBA. Available at: https://www.architecture.com/knowledge-and-resources/knowledge-landing-page/a-decade-of-action-update-riba-publishes-2021-ethics-and-sustainability-survey-findings [Date Accessed 14th November 2021]