The Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE) has collaborated with experts at Arup and WSP to create a practical guide to the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard (UKNZCBS). The new IStructE guidance is a good starting point, whether you aspire to achieve full UKNZCBS or are looking for recommendations for best practice.
The guide highlights the most important considerations and includes explanatory information and diagrams. There’s also a step-by-step process for selecting embodied carbon limits, guidance for carrying out a lifecycle embodied carbon assessment and for carbon management during the design and construction phases of a project. The worked examples are particularly useful to anyone looking at this for the first time.
The UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard is a methodology used to define and prove that buildings are net-zero carbon. It covers both embodied and operational emissions – the emissions created during the build itself, and the emissions once the building is in use.
The standard was introduced in pilot form in 2024 and was developed by industry bodies including BRE, the Better Building Partnership, Carbon Trust and the UK Green Building Council in order to provide a benchmark for addressing carbon reduction in the built environment sector.
The guide will make it easier for construction projects to achieve UKNZCBS verification. Emma Francois, associate director at WSP and one of the guide’s authors commented that “implementing the standard on a project needs early engagement with the process and a robust approach to carbon management to ensure the targets are met. This guide intends to provide clarity and context on what the standard is asking for, with worked examples, showing how lifetime embodied carbon assessments are used to help meet upfront embodied carbon limits and lead to lower carbon solutions”.
With the pilot version having been available since its launch in September 2024, a revised version was published in April last year. Version one of the UKNZCBS will be launched this month, with registration also opening for projects which plan to verify. The verification process will be launched in Q2 of 2026, and technical supporting documents with details on how the limits were set will also be published in Q2. The limits are science-led and informed by the UK’s carbon and energy budgets.
The 2050 deadline for achieving net zero is 24 years away, which is not a considerable amount of time when you look at how long it takes to design, build and get permissions for a construction project. It’s a positive that this guide is now available to the sector, with additional documentation being published soon. Hopefully this will help to drive transformation, especially on larger projects.
The guide is available on the IStructE website, and the UKNZCBS documents are available on their dedicated website. In the meantime, if you need any assistance with the structural elements of an upcoming project, please do get in touch.
