Currie & Brown and Bioregional UK’s quest to achieve net-zero carbon

14 May 2021

Currie & Brown is working with Bioregional on projects across the UK that aim to achieve net-zero carbon.

Bioregional was founded as a charity and social enterprise in 1994 by two entrepreneurs who wanted to develop more sustainable ways of living, creating their One Planet Living framework in 2003. Following their experience working on the UK’s first eco-village, they now provide a range of sustainability consultancy services.

Over the last 15 years Currie & Brown has developed specialist expertise in cost and commercial advice on high-performance and low-carbon buildings. The company’s advisory services team works closely with their practising cost managers to provide policy, research and project advice on achieving a low-carbon and energy-efficient built environment across all sectors.

Currie & Brown has delivered a plethora of net-zero carbon and energy-efficient construction projects, including policy development specific requests for government departments and a wide range of developers, housing associations and contractors. They are currently delivering elements of the new national energy and carbon regulations for England and Wales, Ireland, and Scotland.

The consultancy is currently working with Bioregional on three projects, two of which focus on developing net-zero carbon policy frameworks for local policy development for Central Lincolnshire and Greater Cambridge. The third project is an innovative study into how to implement low-carbon, retrofitted measures in hard-to-treat homes on a large scale, simply and affordably. The work focuses on retrofit actions and is initially developed for registered (social housing) providers.

Made viable via a grant from energy redress funding, the toolkit, once developed, will be available to all registered social landlords and aims to provide an incentive for mass whole-home retrofitting across the UK. The project is sponsored by Places for People, one of the largest property companies in the UK, which has 48,000 socially rented homes awaiting retrofitting to reduce the environmental impact of energy use while continuing to provide quality homes for their tenants.

Tassos Kougionis, associate director in Currie & Brown’s London office, commented: “Currie & Brown is showing true leadership when it comes to driving change and developing the industry’s future steps in terms of net-zero carbon. We have an excellent in-house team of individuals who are passionate and recognised within the world of sustainability.

“We are delighted to work with Bioregional on projects that show the way forward. Sustainability is a core value for our industry and should be embedded within all construction projects. With social value assessments, risk appraisals and techno-economic tools embedded within our toolkit, I am confident that we are moving towards a greener and better future for all.”