Capital Projects

Overview 

• A capital project is a large-scale construction or renovation initiative, often requiring significant investment, planning permissions, and stakeholder support.

• Before starting, evaluate if new construction is necessary.

• Ensure stakeholder alignment and commitment to sustainability from the outset of any major project.

• During the work, try to minimise embodied carbon and prioritise sustainable design.

• Capital projects are a great opportunity to support biodiversity and water conservation through incorporating green roofs, walls, outdoor biodiversity initiatives, rainwater harvesting and low-flow fixtures.

• This guidance was developed with the support of The Arts Green Book (Renew Culture and Buro Happold).

General principles

• Capital projects involve building work – which itself uses resources and has a carbon footprint. The energy that goes into making steel, bricks and concrete is known as ‘embodied energy’. In the climate emergency, it’s essential to minimise carbon and use less resources. The first question is to ask whether a new building is necessary at all. There are often alternative ways of achieving a company’s goals, by reviewing operations or repurposing existing spaces.

• Today, sustainability has to be at the heart of investment in buildings. It must come first, not last. It’s therefore essential to make sure that sustainability goals are written into the basic aims of all capital projects, and that all stakeholders agree on sustainability as an urgent priority which mustn’t be compromised.

• If building is absolutely necessary, make sure your designers are experienced in sustainable design and use materials and techniques that avoid adding to the building’s existing carbon ‘debt’. Choose long-lived and robust materials which won’t need replacing. Guidance for sustainable design can be found here. Measure the embodied carbon ‘debt’ involved in any building works, as well as the reduction they offer in carbon usage. See the Toolkit for more on embodied energy.

• It’s important to make sure that all stakeholders are fully behind the project, and sign up to its sustainability ambition from the outset. Achieving Board/senior management support is vital for most cultural buildings. The Board must confirm sustainability as a primary aim, as well as providing continuity and supporting staff. Internal stakeholders may include department heads, who might have their own priorities and agendas. It’s important to create a shared goal of sustainability (climate literacy or other forms of sustainability training can help with this).

• At the outset, write a list of the external stakeholders who need to give a sustainability project their support. They may include landlords, statutory authorities, and funders. It’s usually worth talking to them early to bring them on board and make this a shared journey.

• Make sure the team working on the project are experts both in buildings of your specialist type, and in sustainability. Be certain they understand the project’s sustainability goals. To achieve a successful project, you need the right people around you. Large expert teams can be costly. The more thinking you do for yourself, or supported by a small team, the easier it will be to run through iterations and shape the project to suit your building, and your sustainability goals. Start small and add knowledge as you need it.

• Your contractors need to match the sustainability ambition of your organisation and design team. In tendering a building contract, check out the sustainability policies of each contractor. Score sustainability alongside price and quality when you review tender returns and make your selection. Finally, include Key Performance Indicators for sustainability in your contract requirements – and make sure your project managers monitor them closely. 

• Cultural buildings often find that sustainability projects which offer benefits on paper are much less effective in real life. The capital project doesn’t end when the builders leave. It’s essential to retain designers for a period of occupation and review, to ensure everything is working as effectively as possible. ‘Soft Landings’ is a helpful UK government initiative to make sure buildings perform as well as intended. 

• Support biodiversity and water conservation by installing green roofs and walls.

• Install rainwater harvesting systems and low-flow fixtures to conserve water and reduce overall consumption.

Museum and gallery spaces

• Through much of the post-war period, it was common for museums and galleries to grow collections continually, with limited rationalisation or de-accessioning. This has created a significant storage challenge, which carries a high environmental price. Some museums and galleries may choose to review their policies for acquisition and disposal in light of the environmental (and financial) costs of storage. 

• Some museums and galleries have focused on consolidating estates, reducing the challenge of making multiple buildings sustainable. 

• Improving historic building fabric can be challenging. Often poorly insulated, historic buildings have a high energy need, so it’s important to concentrate on efficient service systems, and good controls. 

• New construction most often has high ‘embodied energy’. Embodied energy considers the sum of all the energy required to produce materials or services, 'embodied' within the build. In the context of the climate emergency, you may want to think twice before commissioning new building works. Challenges can often be solved by operational change, or by repurposing existing areas. 

• If you’re sure a new building is justified, make sure it’s done as sustainably as possible, with lightweight, sustainable structures that don’t require deep foundations. Consider using LETI guidance to set your design team achievable targets, and seek out case studies of other new cultural buildings with high sustainability standards (such as Oxford University’s new Humanities building, which will house multiple cultural spaces and is being built to Passivhaus low-energy standards with heat pumps rather than gas boilers)

• For short-lease spaces, focus on easy wins, and energy reduction. Viable initiatives may include thermostatic radiator valves, movement detectors to replace light switches, submeters to control electricity, and timers to switch off boilers. Try to work with landlords to make the case for more major building upgrades. 

Studio spaces

• If you’re working with a developer partner who’s responsible for creating cultural workspace, make sure you state your environmental expectations clearly. 

• Work closely with stakeholders to make sure spaces are insulated to a high standard, with a high level of control for service systems. 

• Industrial buildings can be architecturally simple, and relatively free from planning or heritage controls. Insulating roofs and walls can be carried out quite cheaply with external or internal linings. Seek professional advice on how to achieve this.

• Manufacturing spaces sometimes mean rooms with high occupancy, and machines that emit heat. The result is high energy demand. Where possible (for example, in a new fit-out) focus on an efficient plant with good controls.

• Some workshops involve large volumes which contain only a small number of people. In those, the aim should be to heat or cool people locally, rather than trying to bring the whole space to the right temperature.

• Most workspaces require good light levels, which can draw a lot of energy. Changing to LEDs can save huge amounts of energy (and cost). Replacement bulbs are available for most lamp types. If your lamps are relatively efficient (e.g. fluorescent), wait until they fail. But tungsten and high-energy bulbs should be changed as soon as possible.

• If you run a high volume of mechanical ventilation to control fumes or dust, then try to make sure you reclaim the heat energy from exhaust air, and feed it back into the heating system.

• Review whether specialist extract can be achieved through local extraction systems (e.g. fume cupboards) rather than exhausting heated air from the whole space.

• Include the following checklist in fit-out requirements for a new workspace or studio:

• Low energy LED lighting

• Daylight sensors to dim the lights (for spaces with windows)

• Lighting presence detection to turn the lights off when not in use

• Enhanced insulation to roof soffits (if the existing insulation is currently less than 200 mm)

• Installation of electricity and heat meters, and sub-metering where appropriate

• Zoning of heating and associated controls

• Fully insulated hot and chilled water pipework

• For smaller venues, point of use electric hot water is likely to be most carbon-efficient

• If cooling is required, request refrigerant leak detection

• Minimise the materials going into the fit-out

•  Select natural materials with low embodied carbon (like wood from sustainable sources)

• Introduce natural light where possible.

Heritage buildings

Historic buildings can present difficult challenges for sustainability, and heritage legislation sometimes feels restrictive. Seek specialist help, focus on what’s possible, and remember that using an existing building is always more sustainable than building a new one – even if it is designed to the best modern standards.

Many cultural buildings are historic listed structures. Others are unlisted but still of great historic value. Upgrading them to operate sustainably requires a high degree of sensitivity and expertise. It will involve nuanced decisions between heritage value and the need to improve building fabric or introduce new service systems. Some things simply won’t be possible. 

• Historic England offers useful resources for sustainability 

• Before any works to a historic building, start by commissioning a Conservation Management Plan. It will define the heritage value of the building, guide decision-making about change, and set a framework for stewardship of the building.

• Engage heritage authorities in the process and make the most of their expertise.

• The Conservation Management Plan should include a section on opportunities and challenges relating to sustainability works. If you already have a Conservation Management Plan, update it to include this section.

• Your Sustainability Plan should be written in the light of this document. The guidance at the heart of Sustainable Buildings is designed to flag up issues that particularly relate to historic buildings.

Effective Actions

• Start by evaluating if construction is necessary and explore alternative solutions.

• If a capital project is required, write sustainability goals into project objectives and secure stakeholder buy-in.

• Ensure to build a knowledgeable team with sustainable design expertise.

• Select contractors and materials that meet sustainability standards.

• Include sustainability KPIs in contracts and actively monitor progress.