Throughout 2023, Urban&Civic’s Scope 3 carbon footprint was calculated through two methods: firstly, gathering materials, transport and carbon data from contractors using a bespoke template developed by us and secondly, using the Qualis Flow (Qflow) software. Qflow was trialled on The Glade building at Alconbury Weald, with the aim of capturing all carbon emissions from the materials, fuel and energy used during construction.
The process for data capture is extremely simple: a delivery or waste ticket is scanned by the contractor team on arrival or when leaving the site, which feeds through to and updates a live data dashboard. This provides information on the distance goods have travelled to site, which materials were the most carbon intensive and the compliance of materials to recognised sustainability standards. Similarly, the software records all waste data from materials taken off site, including the breakdown of waste categories and the associated carbon footprint with chosen disposal methods. The process outputted insightful results, showing that most of the building’s embodied carbon arose from the quantity of concrete used. The emissions associated with materials and fuel, and the delivery of these, were significantly higher than those of the waste management and transport processes.
