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Sustainability At COP26 last November, the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) launched the UK Roadmap for achieving a net zero carbon built environment by 2050. In this feature, we show how a selection of FIS members are stepping up to the mark. LEADING THE TRANSITION TO LOWCARBONMATERIALS 14 www.thefis.org T he built environment is directly responsible for 25% of the total UK carbon footprint so, has a critical role to play in the national transition to net zero. Co-created by industry, the Whole Life Carbon Roadmap provides a set of actions for achieving a net zero UK built environment by 2050. It quantifies the specific emission reductions across sub-sectors of the built environment that will need to take place to meet the 2050 deadline. It establishes a net zero emissions budget and trajectory to 2050, consistent with wider UK carbon targets and budgets as set out by the Climate Change Committee (CCC), enabling government and the UK built environment to benchmark progress. www.ukgbc.org/ukgbc-work/net- zero-whole-life-roadmap-for-the-built- environment Leading the transition to low carbon materials Established in 2014, FIS member, Adaptavate, rethinks and redesigns the way building materials are produced, used and disposed of. It is a ‘regenerative’ business that takes an innovative approach to the design and manufacture of carbon negative building materials by combining nature and science. Adaptavate and partner universities are leading the way in CO 2 sequestration in building materials and industrial processes, helping us reach the ambitious targets set by governments and industrial bodies. Tom Robinson is the founder of Adaptavate. He was named ‘Shell Young Entrepreneur’ in 2016, which helped him to begin to innovate and design low-carbon materials for healthy buildings that cause no harm people in the future. By combining nature and science, his building solutions are designed to turn lime and CO 2 into carbon negative construction products. Then in October 2020, Adaptavate joined a £500,000 development project co-funded by Innovate UK (the UK’s Innovation agency) to help mainstream the production, manufacture and availability of carbon negative building materials. Tom said: “A building’s skin is crucial to its functionality. Our clothing could be considered to be a second skin and the buildings that we live and work in are very much a kind of third skin. They are critically important to our health and wellbeing and we need to consider how to skin buildings more responsibly and naturally.” Adaptavate has developed biodegradable plasterboard, Breathaboard, from compostable crop waste, and Breathaplasta, a high performance, environmentally friendly and breathable lime plaster alternative to cement and gypsum plasters. Designed to mix, apply and set much like a modern gypsum plaster, this bio-composite product helps to also regulate indoor moisture and improve insulation. All the components are natural and sustainable. They are also completely biodegradable and non-toxic, the waste or off-cuts can be composted or used as soil conditioner. Breathaplasta is rapidly moving towards the mainstream. “Our main aim for 2021 was to get plaster closer to people’s walls and trade peoples vans. Our partnership with SIG and Travis Perkins has really helped do this. Our membership with FIS plays a crucial role in our other focus area of raising awareness” Tom says. “If we are to lead the transition to a healthier, lower impact construction industry of the future, it needs collaboration between innovative pioneering and influential mainstream industry bodies to bring about this impact on a large scale. These are exciting times!” Breathaplasta featured throughout The Conduit Club, Mayfair