Achieving net zero carbon by 2050 requires innovative products and technologies. To identify key innovations in the built environment sector, Futurebuild has surveyed a range of specifiers to identify the game changing products that have shaped how they work. To inspire others in the industry, Futurebuild has highlighted 30 products that have changed the face of the built environment and identified some future game changers. The results can be found at www.futurebuild.co.uk/game-changers.
From January 2020, the built environment industry had just 60 months to transform to meet net zero targets. As a result, the entire industry, from architects, to specifiers and contractors, is searching for the products, processes and technologies needed to deliver sustainable, high quality and long-lasting infrastructure.
To help built environment professionals learn from each other’s successes, Futurebuild interviewed eleven specifiers across the industry to discover the game changing products that influenced their work. Industry experts include Jane Wernick, consultant structural engineer at EngineersHRW, Bill Dunster OBE, architect and founder of ZEDfactory and Duncan Baker-Brown, co-founder of BBM Sustainable Design. The experts identified a variety of innovative materials and technologies that they regularly use — from thermal energy modelling to CO2 absorbing paint.
“We know that many of the innovative products we need to reach net zero carbon targets already exist,” explained Martin Hurn, event director of Futurebuild. “We need to work together, share knowledge and ideas and collaborate to make sure we can use current innovations to their full potential.”
As well as identifying products that have influenced their work, these specifiers also identified the game changing products that they would like to see developed to meet any current challenges they face. For example, zero-carbon concrete, plasterboard alternatives or green roll-out roofs.
“As humans, we spend nearly all our time indoors,” explains Chaline Church, interiors architect and founder of Freespace Design. “In the near future, I’d like to see a range of circular products be brought to market to create healthy interiors. For example, healthy bonding agents could replace bad glues and resins in furniture to reduce toxicity, which could boost our comfort and immune systems.”
Product pioneers should showcase their innovations at Futurebuild 2021. The event will bring together a receptive audience of specifiers and key decision makers looking for products to help them drive change across the built environment. 75 per cent of Futurebuild visitors come to the event to see the latest innovations!
Read more about the game changing products influencing specifiers and tell us about your game changer by visiting www.futurebuild.co.uk/game-changers.
