Professor Mark Gaterell demystifies the role of construction in our net-zero future
External Audio
COP in Focus: The Future of Construction with Professor Mark Gatterell
38% of global carbon emissions come from the construction and built environment sectors. As COP26 continues in Glasgow, Professor Mark Gaterell chats to the Life Solved podcast about why we need to find sustainable futures for our cities and buildings.
Sustainable building
In his work at the School of Civil Engineering and Surveying, Mark's focused on how to future-proof buildings and ensure that those we have can adapt to changing climates.
Why is this such a vital part of the climate change conversation? Because our homes, workplaces and businesses all add to the amount of carbon in the atmosphere when reliant upon fossil fuel-powered heating and hot water. Mark says that the massive number of people living in urban areas all adds up to a significant carbon footprint:
From about 2015, we had just over half of the global population living in urban areas. I think by 2050, 70% of the global population will be in urban areas. So the way that we design and manage our cities is going to be increasingly important
It’s not just the insulation, tech and energy used by buildings that play a part in this, though. Mark says that by thinking about how buildings work on a city-wide scale and interact with their environments, there’s an opportunity to design smarter systems too:
We need to consider how we manage the space between those buildings and the materials we use, the biodiversity or the planting that we adopt in those spaces so that we don't just continue to cause problems for ourselves.
Redefining decarbonisation
When looking at the built environment from this perspective, Mark thinks that a more holistic view of what decarbonisation means emerges. Rather than thinking about energy use in isolation, he’s looking at how buildings can be adapted, retrofitted or designed to actually reduce the demand for energy in the first place. That includes things like insulation but also their aspect in relation to the sun’s ‘free’ energy, as well as a building’s suitability for the different heating tech options on the market.
Citizens of the future
Another interesting angle that engineers must take into consideration is what the needs of future citizens will look like. Buildings often outlast their original intended use here in the UK (Victorian sewers, anyone?!), so assuming present concepts of comfort will apply in climates 25 years from now might spell problems further down the line.
So how are builders thinking around this?
We work a lot with psychologists and social scientists to help us understand what our occupants expect of comfort in their buildings and how they perceive the comfort provided to them. And that is essential.
What’s more, Mark says that as we make decisions upon sustainability as nations, we must also consider how we can support developing countries to also take part in the climate fightback:
It's as simple as some very specific positive action. The time for rhetoric is well and truly over.
Episode transcript:
Anna Rose: Welcome to Life Solved, the research podcast from the University of Portsmouth, where we explore how breakthroughs here are changing our world today and in the future. Across the first two weeks of November 2021, the UK hosts COP26, the UN's Global Climate Change Conference. It's here that world leaders and the public are discussing the collective actions we need to take to prevent the damaging impacts of climate change upon our world and environments. The University of Portsmouth is proudly contributing to the COP conversations, offering expertise and ideas on everything from sustainable trade to global citizenship, plastic pollution and marine biology. But each day, COP is visiting a different set of major challenges facing our world, and so in these In Focus episodes, we're taking a closer look. Today we meet Mark Gaterell, professor of sustainable construction here at the University of Portsmouth. His research focuses on our homes and workplaces and how they interact with environmental challenges.
Mark Gaterell: I'm particularly interested in how the built environment interacts with this idea of climate change. And in two particular ways, I think the first is how we can work with our built environment to mitigate or to reduce any future challenges or damage to the climate in the way that we build and operate those buildings. And the second is thinking about adaptation. How can we ensure that the built environment that we have can adapt to the changes in the climate to which we are already committed as a consequence of our previous actions so that our built environment continues to perform well now and in the future, almost despite whatever future climate actually emerges?
Anna Rose: So what changes need to be made to the building and planning process? How do they tie in with other scientific disciplines? And can we be sure of a positive future by decarbonising our home and work environments?
Mark Gaterell: To get rid of demand by design. That's the
