Our green buildings consultancy team consists of decarbonisation leaders, MEP engineers, façade specialists, Passivhaus designers and award-winning embodied carbon experts.
With a unique blend of multi-disciplinary skill sets, our sustainable building services draw on Sweco’s Scandinavian heritage and international expertise to shape our truly holistic approach to building performance solutions – from design, engineering and performance evaluation to analysis, commercial EPCs, ESG support and certification for BREEAM, WELL, LEED and more.
Material Passporting of Buildings for Re-use & Recycle
Building Envelop Heat Loss and Gain Analysis
Building Overheating Analysis for Existing and New Buildings
Passive House Certification Consultancy
Green Building Certifications for New Construction (BREEAM, LEED, DGNB)
Green Building Certification for Existing Assets (BREEAM – IN USE)
Heath and Wellbeing Based Certifications (WELL Standards, FitWell, Active Score, Reset)
Social Value and equality impact assessments
Building Potable Water Consumption Efficiency / Conservation Consultancy
Building Carbon Offsetting Consultancy
EU Taxonomy Compliance
Sustainable or Green Finance Consultancy
Sustainability Reporting (ESG, CSRD, EPBD etc)
Sustainability Evaluation of Existing Asset for acquisition
Design for Performance
Our sustainable buildings consultants have delivered some of the UK’s most recognised buildings and are skilled in designing low-energy, green building systems and steering our clients and the wider design team to source low-embodied carbon building materials.
From the concept stage, our building sustainability experts work with design teams and commercial clients to assess and advise on several key aspects including site appreciation, solar analysis, façade optimisation, daylight- and glare analysis, fabric thermal performance, natural ventilation and overheating analysis, whole lifecycle analysis, and operational energy assessments.
Our modeling team is a market leader in digitalisation. Adopting ‘Design for Performance’ methodology and working with our consultants to create Digital Twin models, they can analyse and influence building services system selections and controls to optimise whole building systems and minimise operational energy. Our experts advise both clients and design teams on the most cost-effective and low-carbon systems that will align with their green/ESG aspirations, whilst satisfying regulatory targets and project budgets.
Our sustainability champions work alongside our building services and structural engineering consultants to define clear sustainable goals and targets influenced by the UN Sustainability Goals.
Increased industry focus on embodied material carbon and the need to achieve the RIBA 2030 Climate Emergency targets has seen our team drive key sustainability design decision-making and steer procurement direction for sourcing of materials in many of our building designs. Our Benchmarking Assessors have delivered some of the highest sustainability ratings (BREEAM Assessments, WELL Standard Assessments, Passivhaus Assessments and Home Quality Mark).
We work together with a range of multi-disciplinary teams to deliver engineering excellence for whole-project efficiency. In conjunction with our water specialists and our public health engineers, we combine our expertise in attenuation systems, innovative drainage solutions and wider infrastructure opportunities to seek significant water savings in buildings and within wider masterplan developments. We also work closely with our experts in engineering services and our environmental team, in harnessing the power of their digital modelling capabilities.
Close collaboration with our lifecycle analysis team means we’re also adept in full RICS assessment methodology, as well as our intelligent buildings (BMS & Smart) team, to deliver future-proofed solutions.
From air quality and acoustics to circular economy construction and operational optimisation, Sweco’s experts can also guide you through – and help implement – all elements of assessment and appraisal to support you in meeting BREEAM, WELL, ESG, DGNB, EDGE, HQE, CSRD, EU Taxonomy, LEED, PAS 2080 and other disclosure requirements.
BREEAM – the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method – is a third party certification used to assess buildings in over 70 countries.
Sweco can provide both in-house certified BREEAM Accredited Professional and BREEAM assessors across an array of BREEAM certification schemes. Our BREEAM consultants offer full-service expertise from new construction through to refurbishment, fit-out and ‘in-use’ both in the UK and internationally.
WELL building certification supports planning policies around health and wellbeing, enhances positive social impact, and adds value across your ESG and other reporting streams.
With a trusted team of WELL Approved Professionals, all also proficient across BREEAM, LEED, CSRD and HQE requirements, Sweco’s unique team of teams can meet your healthy building assessment and design consultancy requirements under one roof.
LEED certification evaluates a building’s sustainability in areas such as energy efficiency, water usage, and materials used, while WELL certification assesses factors such as air quality, lighting, and occupant comfort. I
Sweco’s experts can help you navigate the rigours of LEED assessment, by advising on – and designing around – the requirements of its framework.
Society is fraught with Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity, leading to the coining of a phrase…the ‘VUCA’ world. Be it the current socio-political turmoil, ongoing energy crises and climate change, remnants of the pandemic or possible cyber disruption, our world is presenting new challenges every day. This presents a perfect storm of challenges, but also a perfect foundation for opportunity when it comes to building sustainable buildings.
While there is no silver bullet, the pursuit of sustainability in a holistic sense is now our ‘True North’. Making sustainable building design a default setting means we can respond to energy transition challenges directly, promote the many game-changing methodologies of circular thinking, harness a huge potential for digital transformation, and ultimately create transformational structures that have a positive impact on health and wellbeing in the round.
Our role as consultants in this landscape must therefore be multi-faceted. We must be ‘mountain guides’ who interpret regulations and law and present the scaling of obligations as not only necessary but achievable goals. We must be trusted partners who stand by clients as they weather various storms. And we must be pioneers who design ground-breaking innovations to navigate modern-age problems.
Below are just some of the responsibilities we need to accept if we are to truly transform society together by building sustainable buildings ‘as standard’.
1. Guidance
Ever since the Paris agreement, countries are ratcheting their decarbonisation ambitions to achieve the goal of net zero. Given this milieu and UK’s role in recent COPs, regulatory bodies are constantly revisiting law and recommendations to ensure better performance.
Our roles as guides serve to not only interpret the tangible meaning and implications of these rapidly evolving laws, but to also observe and predict the direction of their growth. We must see the writing on the wall much in advance and anticipate regulatory pushes. For instance, a push towards Passivhaus standards seems inevitable.
2. Partnership
As the country experiences politically flux, economic instability, and surge in energy prices, it becomes crucial for us as a company to offer a steady and assuring hand to the client. This means understanding their needs but challenging that when needed. It means leveraging our collective wisdom and knowledge of the industry to find solutions to steer the ship when it hits choppy waters.
It may seem foolhardy to focus on sustainability with other seemingly pressing concerns, but it would be our role to guide clients in seeing the potential in sustainability as the fulcrum the rest. For instance, a well-insulated, well-designed building is already proofing itself against fuel volatility.
3. Innovation
Technology and digitisation have touched every aspect of the life today, our field is no exception. With technology advancing at million miles per minute, our job is to ride the tide and use it in explorations to solve problems creatively.
Right from parametric design to machine learning and AI, a plethora of tools now exist that could aid us in optimising our buildings further. Our job is not just to utilise these tools, but to view them through the lens of the clients’ needs, retrofit them accordingly and maybe, even create something brand new.
4. Expertise
Lastly, but definitely not least, our clients look to us for answers. Answers that are well researched, considered, and careful. In order to deliver such solutions, we need to be experts of our craft, best in the field, delivering high quality work. And while investing in great technology is one aspect of producing great work, the most important cog in that wheel is – people.
Therefore, to become those experts our clients look to, we need to nurture an atmosphere where teamwork flourishes and learning from each other thrives. Where we train not just skills but ambition and curiosity too. An expert thus, is one who can deliver that quality work by relying on a framework of knowledge, learning and curiosity to better their craft.
Summary
Only when these four elements are brought together can we hope to build buildings that become the physical embodiment of those values. Our buildings should push notions of net zero way past regulations and aim for truly considered designs.
Our buildings should be robust enough to handle the inevitable knocks (both metaphorical and physical) that this turbulent world is likely to continue to throw their way. Finally, our buildings should ‘talk’ to their users through comfortable and affordable spaces.
Together with our clients and the collective knowledge of our engineers, consultants and other specialists, we co-create solutions to address urbanisation, capture the power of digitalisation, and make our societies more sustainable. With international multi-disciplinary teams, we can call on the right insight and technical capability at the right time from across Buildings, Infrastructure, Advisory & Planning and Compliance.
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