Author: Alex Smith

Anything but play

January 2021

After the government announced measures to improve collaboration with industry, minimise greenhouse gas emissions and support the UK recovery from Covid-19, Hywel Davies considers the likely impact

LETI’s plan for retrofit energy targets

The energy demand of our homes must be reduced significantly to make a net-zero future viable, but for a high proportion of existing buildings this will be challenging. Passivhaus Trust’s John Palmer says upcoming LETI guidance will show professionals what is possible

Tom Hopton interview: the new norm must be smarter

CIBSE Engineer of the Year Tom Hopton spent 2020 looking at how data could help building owners respond to the upheaval caused by Covid-19. He tells Alex Smith how analytics is boosting the performance of buildings while responding to the needs of occupants

From BBC to BIO: turning offices into laboratories

The growing life sciences sector is leading to more office space being repurposed as research laboratories for cutting-edge firms, including a former BBC building in West London. Andy Pearson reports

Heart of the matter: calculating embodied carbon using TM65

Embodied carbon in MEP equipment makes up a large proportion of building emissions, but is hard to measure. Elementa Consulting’s Louise Hamot and Clara Bagenal George explain how CIBSE’s TM65 methodology estimates components’ environmental impact

Highlights from Build2Perform 2020

Achieving net-zero carbon was one of the key themes at the CIBSE Build2Perform online conference, alongside building safety, Brexit and minimising the risk of Covid-19. Alex Smith, Liza Young and Phil Lattimore hear how engineers are responding to a changing landscape

Engineers respond to the climate emergency

As more and more organisations signup to Building Services Engineers Declare Climate and Biodiversity Emergency, seven signatories explain the movement’s significance