The next big thing in Heritage: Whole Lifecycle Carbon Assessments

Published 11th July 2023

Whole Lifecycle Carbon assessments measure the total emissions involved in the construction, use and eventual demolition of a building, and are a great tool for understanding the effect our decisions about the built environment can have.

‘Embodied Carbon’ is the carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions associated with the materials and processes used in the construction, maintenance, alterations to, and demolition of, a building. It therefore provides a way of understanding the carbon footprint of a building over its whole lifecycle.

The good news when working on historic buildings is that refurbishment is generally far less carbon- intensive than building new. There are two main factors that contribute to this:

The carbon associated with the original construction of the building is not releasing any new carbon; it’s already in place!
Fewer new materials are usually needed in a refurbishment, as the structure, foundations, roof, etc, can often be retained and adapted.

Embodied Carbon is measured separately from ‘operational carbon’ (i.e. the energy used to heat, light and operate a building) and usually constitutes the main bulk of a building’s carbon footprint. Incorporating carbon assessment into projects from an early stage is a great way to see how powerful seemingly minor decisions can be in minimising emissions, and is something we hope to see more of as the UK works towards its goal of a 100% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, compared to 1990 levels.

Yet another reason to love our built heritage!

You can also view a Historic England webinar on the topic here: https://historicengland.org.uk/services-skills/training-skills/training/webinars/recordings/webinar-on-embodied-carbon/