Building on the success of our myBEMS platform, launched a year ago at Build2Perform 2022, we have introduced cutting-edge AI solutions to help commercial real estate owners, local government, and education providers further reduce their energy consumption, helping them to reach their net zero targets. And, some early adopters have reported considerable monthly energy savings, demonstrating myBEMS' potential to play a crucial role in helping clients reach net-zero targets without disrupting their operations.

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Occupier demand for sustainable buildings in the UK has risen, and global appetite for green buildings is on the rise, but legislative uncertainty and lack of measurement is holding industry back from making a real impact on net zero targets.

In the UK, around three-fifths of contributors suggested that investor demand for green buildings rose to some extent in the past year. Its headline Sustainable Building Index (SBI) reported more than 60 percent net balance of respondents believe that demand for green and sustainable buildings rose over the past year. This UK measure is stronger than the global average balance, which stands at over 44 percent, although the UK figure lags a little behind Europe, which records the highest global sentiment at more than 73 percent. Only around 6% of contributors globally suggest that green features have no impact at all on rents and prices.

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On 31 December, two key air quality regulations dropped off the statute book under the Retained EU Law (REUL) Act. The rules being revoked are regulations 9 and 10 of the National Emission Ceiling (NEC) regulations, which set legally binding emission reduction commitments for five key air pollutants. Officials pointed out that by revoking the regulations with no replacement, there would ‘no longer be a legal requirement to publish a UK wide document on emission policies under consideration by all UK administrations’, which they warned would make ‘tracking or setting our progress towards UK wide emission targets difficult’. They added there would no longer be clear action after a failure to achieve an emission reduction target.

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The study revealed that exposure to PM2.5 concentrations between 10 and 14μg/m3 had a negative impact on maths scores and levels exceeding just 8μg/m3 was linked to poor reading performance.

The current legal limit for PM2.5 in the UK is currently set at 20 μg/m3. In 2021, the World Health Organisation (WHO) updated the limit to 5 μg/m3 as research showed increased risk of mortality when PM2.5 is below the previous WHO limit of 10μg/m3. This means that now, the current UK limit is four times more than the updated level recommended by WHO.

Much can be done to ensure children breathe clean air in the classroom, from the use of air purification units to the installation of MVHR systems that can also recoup spend on energy and reduce carbon emissions, however, funding is an ever present problem!

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The data was gathered from over 500 organisations surveyed during the autumn of 2023, and whilst 15 percent of respondents confirmed they had updated their fire risk assessments to cover the risk of LiB fires, 71 percent said they had not and a further 14 percent were unsure.

Assessments should cover Lithium-ion batteries in use, those being charged and being swapped out, the handling control and containment of damaged batteries, and battery disposal. Each will require a different strategy and tailored approach to manage associated risks.

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