SUSTAINABILITY LECTURE / Material Passports for Existing Buildings
Fiona Mckay
On 16 Mar 2022, we continued our ongoing series of AIA UK sustainability talks with our guest speaker, Rachel Hoolahan (Architect and Sustainability Co-Ordinator, Orms Architects), discussing ‘Material Passports for Existing Buildings’.
As architects, one of the most effective ways to reduce our impact on the environment (short of not building anything at all), is to re-use existing materials and building components in renovations and new build projects. However, this can be very challenging, time-consuming, and not especially cost-efficient. The details and condition of the existing materials can be hard to ascertain and verify to any agreed standard, and their removal can require considerable time and effort, to mention but two of the key challenges.
With the imperative to reduce our carbon emissions; minimise building waste sent to landfill; and create a more circular economy, the question of how to extend the life of viable building components and materials is more pertinent than ever.
To begin to address this challenge, Orms Architects have created a Material Passporting system. Their Sustainability Coordinator, Rachel Hoolahan, has led the development of this system, building on her research on material passports as part of a wider Grosvenor Estate Innovation Project into material reuse. The outcome of this work is a methodology for encouraging more meaningful material reuse, by creating a material database for each project. The approach is deliberately open source and flexible, allowing design teams of any size or skill set to apply the work to their projects.
AIAUK sustainability talks examine new sustainability thinking and practices. AIA UK announcements are made for new topics, which are then available for repeated viewing via our YouTube link. The link to the Material Passport lecture can be found HERE.
CE credit is available if the AIA UK specific quiz on the event is successfully completed. CES Credits: 1.0 HSW. The link to the Material Passport quiz can be found HERE.
