CWCT Sustainability

In June 2019, the UK parliament passed legislation requiring the government to reduce the UK's net emissions of greenhouse gases by 100% relative to 1990 levels by 2050.  The UK façade and cladding industry have a responsibility to support this transition. 

The CWCT has formed a Sustainability Committee, under the leadership of John Downes of Lendlease, to coordinate our work in this area. 

The CWCT Sustainability Committee is:

  • John Downes, Leadlease,
  • David Metcalfe, CWCT,
  • Mark Foster, Allies and Morrison,
  • Ed Forwood, Arup,
  • Damian Rogan, Eckersley O’Callaghan,
  • Gary Ledger, Kawneer,
  • Henk de Bleeker, Permasteelisa,
  • Leandro Heine, Thornton Tomasetti.

We have also employed a Sustainability Engineer to help lead this work.

Sustainability in facades is complex and multifaceted.  Designing sustainable facades includes making considerations for embodied carbon, operational carbon, biodiversity, climate resilience, circularity, energy generation, reducing urban heat island effects and more.  Our focus is on providing awareness and knowledge of the impact of facades on our environment and how we can improve it.

Following publication of our first Sustainability Guide, a number of further workstreams were established:

  • Embodied carbon methodology,
  • Refurbishment,
  • Circularity,
  • Sustainability plan of work,
  • Carbon thread,
  • LCA, EPDs and PCRs.

Work in these areas is underway.  For further information on these Workstreams, please click here.

A number of guidance documents have already been produced and can be found in the sustainability publications section.  CWCT Members can access the documents free of charge via the Cladding Forum. 

CWCT sustainability publications

This work is a real industry collaboration facilitated by CWCT.  We are delighted that so many people have been willing to participate and share knowledge in order help provide much needed guidance.  Currently we have 62 individuals from over 30 companies actively involved:

AHMM

Alinea

Allies and Morrison

Arup

ASFD

Brookfield Properties

Buro Happold

CAB

Cambridge University

Clearline

Cundall

CWCT

Dane Architectural Systems Holdings Limited

Eckersley O’Callaghan

Etude

FKN Group

FMDC

Guardian

Hawkins Brown

HDRINC

Hydro Group

Kawneer

Laing O'Rourke

Lendlease

Mace

Mott Macdonald

Paye

Permesteelisa Group

Ramboll

RIBA

Saint Gobain

Skelly and Couch

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

Staticus

Thornton Tomasetti

Wintech

WSP

 

 

We are very grateful to all those involved. 

We have recently launched a Sustainability Stories area on the CWCT website.  This is space where CWCT Members can share their experiences in implementing aspects of sustainability into their projects.  These stories also help to illustrate the broad range of potential options available, and we hope they will inspire others to go the extra mile and improve the sustainability of their projects. 

There is a huge amount of work to do in this area, and we would like your feedback on the challenges you are facing and on our future work.  If you have any questions, comments, or ideas, please email sustainability@cwct.co.uk

 

Embodied carbon calculation methodology - Our new methodology is now available

Sustainability Stories - Our blog of sustainability case studies

Sustainability Publications - Our published guidance

External Guidance - A curated catalogue of resources from the wider industry