The Alliance for Sustainable Building Products (ASBP), a non-profit, has announced a strategic new partnership.
The new partnership with Built Environment - Smarter Transformation (BE-ST) UK-based innovation centre, aims to accelerate the adoption of low-carbon and natural building products across the nation’s built environment.
“By aligning our networks, knowledge and expertise on timber, natural materials and more, we can strengthen the case for sustainable products and approaches and support the sector to embed low-carbon solutions at scale,” said Richard Broad, Director at ASBP.
Under the agreement, ASBP and BE-ST plan to combine their respective expertise and networks to support the use of sustainable materials in both new-build and retrofit projects.
Key priorities of the collaboration include:
- Advocating for use of low-carbon, natural materials in both retrofit and new build applications.
- Supporting the growth of timber-rich construction in the UK and encouraging greater adoption of homegrown timber products.
- Undertaking collaborative research into innovative sustainable building solutions.
- Expansion of low carbon products and supporting low carbon skills agenda.
“We hope…to help shape policies, skills and markets that make low-carbon construction the industry standard,” said Louise Rogers, Impact Manager at BE-ST.
Low-carbon and timber materials for hospital builds
Recent UK healthcare projects echo this shift toward natural, low-carbon materials.
Design proposals for the Velindre Cancer Centre specify “timber and other natural materials … low-embodied carbon, bio-based materials that support a circular economy,” which shows that there is growing momentum to embed low-carbon and natural materials in UK hospital builds.
Heatherwood Hospital redevelopment in Ascot also incorporates timber, natural stone and a biophilic landscape.
Cranleigh Health Centre and the Kirkley Health Campus are turning to cross-laminated timber in off-site construction, demonstrating the growing viability of renewable, low-carbon structural systems for health facility builds.