I spent part of last week at London’s Excel Centre at the Futurebuild Conference and Exhibition, which left me hopeful for the future but also mindful of the many challenges that still lie ahead.
If you’ve not been to Futurebuild, it is a 3-day event held in London’s Docklands that last year was visited by just over 18,000 people. It has over 250 exhibitors and a comprehensive conference schedule with more than 550 speakers.
Mitsubishi Electric sponsored the ‘Futurebuild Arena’, which had major discussion sessions throughout exploring how we can all drive real impact across both the built and natural environments. The three overarching themes for the Arena were:
- Day one: Putting circularity at the heart of what we all do
- Day two: Sustainability, social justice and transition
- Day three: Making it happen
Others are guilty of spreading what can be quickly fact checked as ‘climate change misinformation’
Martin Fahey Head of Sustainability
Innovation on show
Each session focused on what must happen over the next 12 months, by 2030, and onwards to 2050 to create a sustainable, thriving economy that works within planetary boundaries, promotes social justice, and delivers tangible results.
The Exhibition also had other conference areas with ‘impact stages’ throughout covering: Buildings; Energy; Materials; Placemaking and Digital Disruptors.
The exhibition showcased the best in products, materials, innovation and support to help society create net zero buildings faster, more safely and more efficiently.
The audience covers the entire supply chain – architects, housebuilders, developers, consultants, contractors and manufacturers – with the aim of facilitating positive change – together.
Challenges ahead
It’s just as well we can gather like-minded people together to discuss what needs to be done as the world seems to be in a strange place at the moment.
There are those denying or ignoring man’s impact on climate change calling for us to ‘drill baby, drill’ to ensure we continue consuming oil and gas in ever increasing amounts.
This is sold as concern for the impact on energy prices for households, but those advancing these short-term answers seem focused more on carrying on with the status quo than anything else – and show very little concern about the long-term and devastating effect on the planet.
Others are guilty of spreading what can be quickly fact checked as ‘climate change misinformation’, with Reform’s Deputy Leader, Richard Tice MP a very good example when he was recently called out by scientists as “categorically wrong”.
Tice recently called the findings of more than 200 international scientists “absolute garbage” when they reported that human activities like burning fossil fuels are to blame for the recent hotter climate. The Sky News report covering the story quotes Dr George Adamson from King's College London saying: “The idea that Richard Tice had discovered something that climate scientists don't know about is of course preposterous".
The Shy report also records Mr Tice claiming that there were a thousand scientists agreeing with him, but this is strongly challenged with scientific consensus on human’s impact on climate change greater than 99%.
And hope for the future
Events such as Futurebuild bring together the very best of UK industry, academia and politics, with everyone I met dedicated to playing their part in minimising their impact on climate change and learning about new and innovative ways to reduce carbon emissions in the built environment.
I mentioned that we sponsored the ‘Futurebuild Arena’ and, during the intervals in discussion, we left a rolling slideshow of examples of how heat pumps can be used to bring low-carbon, sustainable heating to almost any type of building. The live case studies included homes and apartments, as well as commercial buildings such as town halls, schools, universities, leisure centres and sports centres.
They also included some of the examples from Chester Zoo, where we have been helping their facilities team look for ways to decarbonise their many buildings.
During Futurebuild, the Climate Change Committee launched its 7th Carbon Budget, with advice to Government on how we get to net zero.
The report called for a roadmap or pathway to ensure that we can install 450,000 heat pumps a year by 2030 and 1.5m a year by 2035.
That’s where the pioneering work of Chester Zoo points the way, because if they can fit a heat pump to a Rhino habitat then it can be fitted to just about any home or building!
Martin Fahey is Head of Sustainability
