As the home of innovation, Futurebuild 2022 hosted over 300 game changing brands and 350 speakers, sharing how the built environment can go beyond net zero. Across the three days, sustainability pioneers, such as Professor Peter Guthrie OBE, Sue Riddlestone OBE and Robin Nicholson CBE, demonstrated how we can turn net zero ambition into action.

Futurebuild aims to inspire the transformational change needed to propel the industry to net zero, focusing on how we must collaborate and innovate to meet net zero. On the first day of Futurebuild, for example, Lee Rowley, Minister for Business and Industry attended the event to showcase the importance of collaboration between the government and industry as we move towards a net zero future.

“There are some fantastic exhibitions and a brilliant agenda at Futurebuild this year,” commented Rowley. “It is great to see the construction industry coming together to talk about the net zero supply chain and ask the important questions that will help the industry move forwards and find new opportunities. To achieve the challenges that have been set out, we need to work with industry to find solutions and Futurebuild brings people together to do just this.”

Sustainable stand outs

Innovative homes company Kiss House took over James Latham’s stand to showcase how we can build healthier, more sustainable homes. The timber structure, made of two sections from the Kiss House residential construction system, doubled as a seminar space at the show. To celebrate the innovative collaboration, James Latham and Kiss House were declared the winner of the sustainable stand award at the event.

“At the event we wanted to showcase real structures from real houses”, explained Mike Jacob, co-founder and director of Kiss House. “In this project we’ve taken timber and fed it into a precise manufacturing process to create accurate, high-quality components. After Futurebuild we’ll temporarily store these structures in our facility before using them in Reading’s first ever Passivhaus development.

“From a sustainability perspective it was vital to create a structure that could be used elsewhere, as exhibitions are traditionally quite wasteful. From our perspective as a start-up, it was also important to show some credibility and showing that we do real stuff and do it well, which is the feedback we’ve been getting from visitors, so we’re really pleased,” concluded Mike.

The Architects Climate Action Network (ACAN) team also chose to showcase natural materials and reuse them in future projects. The tables on the stand will be turned into roof and floor panels for a cabin and the strocks, structural blocks of clay rich earth and straw, will be sent back to brickworks specialist HG Matthews for use in future construction projects.

“When creating the bar takeover, we wanted to live by the principles we want to instil,” explained Sam Turner at ACAN. “While planning the event we made sure every decision followed our core aims — decarbonising now, promoting ecological regeneration and inspiring cultural transformation.

What’s next?

We have a limited time to achieve net zero, so as we look to the future, we must act quickly. Futurebuild’s Climate Action Gallery, sponsored by James Latham, showcased some of the roadmaps and guidance that industry leaders have created in response to the climate emergency.

The Royal Institute for British Architects (RIBA), for example, presented on its 2030 Climate Challenge — voluntary performance targets to reduce energy use, water consumption and embodied carbon. The Climate Action Gallery also featured guidance from associations such as the Institute of Civil Engineers, The Edge, Bioregional, Considerate Contractors Scheme, Landscape Institute, ACAN, CIBSE, Active Building Centre, Zero Construct, UKGBC, CIC and IStructE.

“Exhibitors and speakers across the show floor outlined that we have little time to act on climate change,” explained Martin Hurn, event director of Futurebuild. “Collaboration is vital if we are to reach net zero. Futurebuild exists to bring people from across the built environment, from young disruptors such as Thermulon, to established brands such as Viessman, together to tackle the challenges the industry faces together.

“Over the three days we’ve seen the breadth of innovation happening in the sector, given industry experts a platform to share best practice and showcased the latest game-changing products. Now it’s time to take what we’ve learnt from the show and turn it into action to meet net zero.”

Don’t forget to save the date for Futurebuild 2023, taking place from March 7 to March 9, 2023.