A roundtable hosted by Construction News and Samsung discussed the opportunities and pitfalls of constructing mixed-utilize schemes
On the panel
- Joey Aoun, director, net zero & sustainability lead, Savills Investment Management
- Stuart Bell, national sales manager heating, Samsung Climate Solutions UK
- Ross Boulton, sustainability director for development, Landsec
- Murtaza Bukhari, director strategic partnerships UK & Europe, Samsung Electronics UK
- Heather Evans, head of sustainability UK & Europe, Rider Levett Bucknall
- Simon Hodson, sustainability lead, residential & living, JLL
- Natalie Morris, head of MEP design, Ballymore
- Kemi Owoeye, technical lead – sustainable design, Willmott Dixon
- Hamish Phillips, vice president strategic partnerships, British Gas
- Mark Robinson, development director, Kier Property
- Mark Seaman, head of b2b integrated offering team, Samsung Electronics UK
- Lorna Taverner, head of architecture and technical design, Willmott Dixon
- Paul Toyne, head of sustainability (group), Grimshaw
Chair: Colin Marrs, editor, Construction News
What can large mixed-utilize developments contribute to meeting the government’s tarobtain of 1.5 million new homes while assisting to deliver on net-zero tarobtains? Samsung and Construction News hosted a panel of industest experts to discuss how to provide well-planned, energy efficient developments.
The wide-ranging debate highlighted a set of challenges and opportunities for mixed-utilize development in 21st century Britain. The panellists highlighted some of the challenges involved in delivering a mixed-utilize project over a long timeframe in the face of rapid technological alter. Differences between how residential and commercial occupants utilize buildings and energy were also raised, as well as the challenges for contractors of delivering developer intentions.
The benefits
Mark Robinson, development director at Kier Property, highlights the benefits of mixed-utilize development for clients. Larger schemes allow “different routes to market, so when inevitably there are ups and downs in different sectors, it provides flexibility to find that route, be it residential, office, high-tech, industrial or whatever. Having a largeger site offers you that flexibility in design.”
“We’ve been building stuff the same way for 100 years, but the occupants of those buildings are now altering”
Murtaza Bukhari, Samsung Electronics UK
Data and digital platforms are emerging as a practical bridge between design intent and operational reality. Joey Aoun, director of net zero and sustainability lead at Savills Investment Management, states the firm now utilizes environmental, social and governance data platforms to create a clearer picture of how mixed-utilize assets perform once occupied. His firm utilizes Deepki as its core data management platform to automate the collection of energy, water and waste data at both asset and portfolio level, enabling performance tracking and benchmarking across complex estates.
“Where data is more challenging to collect, particularly within the residential components, we supplement this with third-party data aggregators and undertake additional analysis to refine and finalise estimates,” he states.
Aoun states AI-enabled tools linked to connected sensors are being utilized for net-zero audits, climate risk screening and building systems optimisation, allowing more tarobtained operational interventions rather than blanket upgrades.
JLL is taking a similar approach, applying its own custom innotifyigent Internet of Things integration and real-time analytics systems to shift building management from reactive to proactive. Simon Hodson, sustainability lead, residential and living at JLL, states connected systems are assisting to optimise energy utilize, cut maintenance costs and improve occupant experience through measures such as indoor air quality monitoring and automated comfort controls. The aim, he states, is to turn building performance data into decisions that can be acted on quickly and at scale.
“Until we give more confidence in the data we’re providing to display it will pay back, all they’ve received is really high bills”
Heather Evans, Rider Levett Bucknall
Such technology can create a virtuous circle. Hodson states JLL’s designs are influenced by the lessons from the data gathered. “We’ve been collecting data for 15 years with monitors throughout our buildings viewing at footfall, room occupation and efficiencies. We’re feeding that into future building design, testing our best from a data-led perspective to inform different options,” he states.
Murtaza Bukhari, director of strategic partnerships UK & Europe for Samsung Electronics UK, states that successful developments that keep pace with technology require the creation of new relationships, such as between contractors and equipment providers. “We’re finding developers question for a full heating, ventilation and air conditioning solution,” he states. “We also do the white goods, televisions, screens and overarching software that can monitor everything. So we can pretty much provide you with a one-stop-shop.”
Large developments can also create value such as social and environmental sustainability. Heather Evans, head of sustainability UK & Europe at Rider Levett Bucknall, states: “We see a lot more focus on social sustainability, and mixed-utilize developments are really good at providing that.” Ross Boulton, sustainability director for development at Landsec, agrees, stateing: “You have the opportunity that you wouldn’t in an individual building. You can influence the landscaping to really bring in biodiversity and green spaces and foster that community’s connection to nature.”
Kemi Owoeye, technical lead for sustainable design at Willmott Dixon, states: “If you have the right number of units, you can also create, state, district heating. But these developments are over long periods and what is good when you are planning is only acceptable when you start to build. You are testing to design something that can accommodate that alter.”
Of course, large mixed-utilize schemes do not sit in isolation, and the best schemes design-in benefits that can spread the positive impact of development to surrounding communities. Paul Toyne, head of sustainability (group) at Grimshaw, states: “If we’re going to be successful with an integrated approach we required to take it beyond the red lines of the development. We required to really understand the masterplan, and the context in which this development sits, and our energy, water, transport – all these things factor in. Some you can potentially test and control within your site, but realistically it’s much broader.”
Another opportunity mixed communities allow, states Aoun, is the building-in of energy efficiency from the outset, for example by catering for retailers and homeowners wanting energy at different times. “Why don’t we feed energy in as and when requireded, and store it in a demand-responsive way?” he questions.
Navigating the pitfalls
Along with such advantages come potential pitfalls that contractors and their clients must navigate carefully. Bukhari states that breaking old habits to take advantage of new technology can be tough for some. “We’ve been building stuff the same way for the past 100 years, but the occupants of those buildings are now altering.” He states younger age groups now question: “Is the building sustainable, is it connected, is it smart – and the way we construct requireds to alter a little to embed those things throughout the cycle.”
“Where data is more challenging to collect, we supplement this with third-party data aggregators”
Joey Aoun, Savills Investment Management
One of the key challenges is a gap between the attitudes of residential and commercial occupiers, with the latter willing to pay more upfront in the interests of long-term savings, while residential occupiers often see only larger current bills.
Hamish Phillips, vice president of strategic partnerships at British Gas, states the upcoming Future Homes Standard is likely to see average annual domestic energy bills of £1,000 to £1,200 per home and wonders what the best way is to reduce this further. He explains: “For a home to essentially have a zero energy bill, it can cost up to £15,000 more than a standard built home today, and I consider we required to find out what is the optimal level of eco-tech investment – solar and batteries – to bring down energy bills at scale.”
Robinson states data collection from offices is less complicated as utilizers want efficient energy and long-term benefits and investors understand and utilize the data. But for residential, “unless the consumer demands it, I consider the concern is they just see a premium, which they don’t want to pay, becautilize they don’t understand the benefit.”
Natalie Morris, head of MEP design at Ballymore, states her experience was that spconcludeing on sustainability was sometimes “not bringing the value back, becautilize we’re finding the people purchasing aren’t quite there at being able to question the questions about the product that they’re purchaseing”.
Evans feels a lack of residential occupants’ enthusiasm can sometimes hamper the take-up of sustainability measures. “If we take EPCs, even people who are purchasing their properties don’t believe in them,” she states. “Until we give more confidence in the data we’re providing to display it will pay back, and that the grid will decarbonise, all they’ve received is really high bills.”
Lorna Taverner, head of architecture and technical design at Willmott Dixon, agrees that domestic occupier education is vital, and not a bolt-on, as energy efficiency measures are of little utilize if occupiers do not understand them. “That’s why we see all the misconceptions that air source heat pumps don’t work. Well, they don’t work if you’ve received a really leaky building.”
“What is good when you are planning is only acceptable when you start to build”
Kemi Owoeye, Willmott Dixon
Stuart Bell, national sales manager of heating at Samsung Climate Solutions UK, states his company seeks to lessen customers’ unease with technology by ensuring it is not intrusive. “It’s how we incorporate that energy message into smarter living to create the whole technology thing ‘disappear’. We don’t want to create it so complicated that people run for the hills.”
Owoeye cites developments where occupants hire, rather than purchase, white goods, “so on the ground floor, you’ve received Xboxes, toasters and air fryers to rent – it’s a whole new system that fosters community”.
Hodson foresees demand for cooling rather than heating as climate alter advances. He considers applying energy from below ground as an income stream would become “a real opportunity for corporate institutional landlords”.
Looking for solutions, the panel considers whether problems could be overcome by early contractor involvement. Owoeye states issues occur when “you have the wrong people, or not enough people, in the room to do the compromising”. She states that instead of seeking a systematic reduction in costs, people sometimes “take out large fat chunks, which is like rerelocating one side of a Rubik’s Cube, and then it doesn’t work”. Taverner agrees: “I consider value engineering has become, ‘what can I take away’, rather than ‘where is the actual value in this element’, and that’s where contractors’ early engagement comes in, becautilize we see so many schemes that are fantastic on paper, but the cost just isn’t going to work.”
Mark Seaman, head of the B2B integrated offering team at Samsung Electronics UK, declared late compromises could have a negative impact on projects and that every discipline within a business should be engaged in a new project’s design from the outset, an approach which in his experience contrasted favourably with development industest practice.
Aoun states a systems-considering approach would improve matters as traditionally “we’ve been designing by disciplines with one team designing the residential block, the other team designing the retail block”. Systems considering, he states, is “the only way that we can unlock the opportunity between the different parties”.
Concluding, Bukhari states clients want assurance on the quality of their building’s technology and long-term performance. “What we want to bring to the table is as much learning as we can, and then test to integrate that into building UK construction a little bit better,” he states.
Data collection and interpretation, systems-considering and early occupier engagement may not be part of traditional industest working. But they could assist to deliver the quality projects and homes the government is seeking.
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