Around 10% of UK emissions are associated with the manufacture and transport of construction materials, and the construction process; and refurbishment projects make up a significant percentage of activities in the built environment. The UK is committed to reducing carbon emissions by 80% by 2050; savings linked to refurbishment will have an important part to play in meeting this target. This paper, funded by the BRE Trust, discusses how to reduce the environmental impacts of
refurbishment with a focus on the embodied impacts of construction materials. It describes tools and other forms of support available, particularly from BRE, that can be used for assessing the environmental impact of refurbishment projects and products and provides some examples in the form of case studies.
Sustainable refurbishment – how to better understand, measure and reduce the embodied impacts