You are here

RP1034 Carbon Value Engineering

Project leader name: 
Dr Philip Oldfield, Dr Ali Akbar Nezhad & Prof David Carmichael, UNSW
Project status: 
Complete
Project period: 
03/2017 to 09/2018

This project seeks to maximise the reduction of embodied carbon in the built environment by adapting the industry-standard practice of value engineering; a common practice where cost reduction and constructability are optimised before construction. It will develop a new value engineering framework that focusses not only on cost, but also maximises the reduction of embodied carbon emissions through innovative dematerialisation strategies early in the building design. It is estimated that adopting this framework could save up to 1.2MtCO2eq/year from building construction in Australia.

Publications related to this project

Peer Reviewed Research Publications
Beyond an ‘informed opinion’: evidence-based practice in the built environment - Christian Criado-Perez, Catherine G Collins, Chris J Jackson, Philip Oldfield, Brett Pollard & Karin Sanders, Architectural Engineering and Design Management (2019)
CRCLCL Project Reports

This research presents a Carbon Value Engineering framework. This is a quantitative value analysis method, which not only estimates cost but also considers the carbon impact of alternative design solutions. It is primarily concerned with reducing cost and carbon impacts of developed design...

CRCLCL Project Reports

This research explores the carbon impact of current Value Engineering practices in Australia. To accomplish this goal, a complex mixed-use building in Sydney was modelled to determine the capital material costs and initial embodied carbon emissions before and after the VE process....