GT3 Architects Sign Climate Emergency Declaration.

GT3 are delighted to confirm that we have signed the “Architects Declare” [1] commitment to act on the current Climate and Biodiversity crises that we are collectively facing.

GT3 Architects passionately believe that a careful, intelligent approach to design of the built environment has a huge part to play in improving people’s wellbeing and quality of life, not least through mitigating the extent of the ecological disasters we are facing, and improving our communities’ resilience to the effects we as a society are unable to mitigate.  An emergency requires practical action as well as bold declarations, so we are focusing on the following areas in which we believe we can have a significant impact:

8% of global carbon emissions are from concrete production [2].  As an innovative practice we are committed to advocating for the replacement of concrete with greener materials, such as Cross Laminated Timber (CLT), where appropriate alternatives exist and regulatory requirements allow.

28% of current UK Carbon emissions are from land transport [3].  The transition to electric vehicles is proving to be very slow, and in any case manufacture of such vehicles carries a heavy carbon and ecological footprint.

It’s therefore essential to reduce car travel, but much of our current built environment makes alternative active travel methods such as walking and cycling, unattractive, inconvenient or even unsafe.  GT3 are committed to encouraging active travel and public transport through our masterplanning work.

19% of current UK Carbon emissions are directly from buildings, and a further 11% from electricity generation for supply to buildings[3].  GT3 will advocate for higher thermal performance of building envelopes, more on-site renewable energy generation, and the reduction or elimination of gas-powered heating on all our schemes.

Green Infrastructure has massive benefits for well-being, mitigates the effects of extreme weather events like flash flooding and heatwaves, and helps support biodiversity.  GT3 will commit to prioritising and advocating for the Landscaping elements of our projects which are often the first aspects to suffer when cost-saving measures are taken.

[1] https://www.architectsdeclare.com/

[2] https://www.chathamhouse.org/about/structure/eer-department/innovation-low-carbon-cement-and-concrete

[3] https://www.theccc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/CCC-2018-Progress-Report-to-Parliament.pdf