ASSOCIATION NEWS
RICS’ WHOLE LIFE BUILDING CARBON DATABASE
Poor air quality has an impact in the
workplace, and buildings that focus
specifically on minimising VOCs and enhancing
ventilation enable better cognitive functioning
by occupants than those with higher levels
of indoor pollutants and lower fresh-air
intake. However, the energy consumed by air
conditioning systems can produce local warming
and emissions that exacerbate the urban heat
island e ect. Global energy demand for such
systems is expected to triple by 2050, while air
filtration systems can also significantly increase
energy usage, thereby creating a pollution
multiplier e ect.
There is thus a huge amount that landlords and
facilities managers should be doing to improve the
built environment. A good starting point would
be installation of air-quality monitors in buildings
to determine how best to use ventilation. There
should be a company-wide clean energy strategy
as part of this approach.
Government initiatives are aiming to reduce
pollution from industry and from domestic
sources, but the real-estate sector has to do much
more than it is currently. Air pollution is becoming
an important location factor and will have a
IWFM LAUNCHES GROUND-BREAKING
DEGREE-LEVEL WORKPLACE QUALIFICATION
8 DECEMBER/JANUARY 2020
significant impact on real estate in all its forms.
Earlier this year, RICS o icially launched
the whole life Building Carbon Database. The
database was originally commissioned by the
Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and
the UK Green Building Council (UK GBC) to capture
embodied carbon data for whole buildings.
The RICS Building Carbon Database is an
evolution of the formerly known WRAP Embodied
Carbon Database, with a continued relationship
with UK GBC. The purpose of the database
reinforces the RICS professional statement ‘Whole
life carbon assessment for the built environment,
1st edition’, which RICS members must act in
accordance with.
The aim of the database is to allow users to
identify where associated carbon emission
reductions can be made, during all stages of
a building’s life cycle. For organisations who
submit their data, the database is free to use and
registration is available at wlcarbon.rics.org.
To access the data, users are required to input
construction project data into the database (both
theoretical and completed projects), which in turn
allows users to estimate/benchmark whole life
carbon emissions.
While operational carbon is produced during
the day-to-day activities of running and using
a building, embodied carbon results from
producing, procuring and installing materials and
components that make up a structure, as well as
encompassing the end of life stages of a building
(i.e. demolition, removal and repurposing of
materials). For the industry to make headway with
understanding the overall carbon impact of the
built sector, whole life carbon must be assessed.
The whole life approach considers all stages of a
structure’s life (cradle to grave) - the view that the
RICS Building Carbon Database provides.
The launch of the database is timely with the
global movement towards a more sustainable
future and RICS is keen to lead the way for a more
sustainable built environment. Find out more
about RICS ‘Value the Planet campaign.
https://www.rics.org/uk/news-insight/latestnews/
value-the-planet/
November saw IWFM celebrate two
momentous milestones in the space of
a few days. We marked our one-year
anniversary since we rebranded from BIFM and
announced our mission to make workplace and
facilities management a Chartered profession.
Just before we turned one, however, we proudly
launched the pilot for a ground-breaking degreelevel
qualification in workplace that takes us an
important step closer to becoming a Chartered
professional body.
Titled ‘Level 6 Diploma in Workplace Leadership,
Insight and Change’, we believe this is the first
pure workplace qualification of its kind, but more
importantly it adds considerable substance to our
growing discipline’s professional development
o ering. Sixty learners from HMRC have enrolled
in the programme. They have been split into three
groups of twenty, with the first group beginning
their studies on 14 November.
The diploma is a regulated qualification, in
line with IWFM’s existing suite of professional
qualifications, and will be awarded by IWFM.
Delivery is under the banner of the Workplace
Leadership Programme in a partnership between
IWFM Academy and workplace performance and
development specialists 3edges. As a regulated
qualification, the diploma is available for delivery
by IWFM’s recognised centres if they meet certain
criteria.
From little acorns…
The qualification builds on a workplace leadership
course we launched last summer. Senior
representatives from HMRC attended the threeday
programme and feedback from the event
uncovered demand for a comprehensive standard
of attainment in workplace to support a strategic
shi to smarter ways of working.
This led to an arrangement that has enabled
us to develop a qualification that will benefit
the whole industry, supporting our vision for a
distinct profession recognised for its ability to
enable people to transform organisations and their
performance. Now, a er collaboration between
IWFM and our delivery partners 3edges, twenty of
HMRC’s people have started studying for their Level
6 diplomas, with forty more to follow in the coming
months.
The diploma is delivered through a ‘blended
learning’ approach, which combines a timetable of
face-to-face workshops and self-study, supported
by a series of planned webinars and virtual groupwork
activities.
Benefitting the sector
There are considerable direct and indirect benefits
associated with this diploma. Directly, it provides an
excellent entry point and career progression route,
while also addressing the need for learning and
development in a richly diverse, multi-disciplinary
profession that can influence many of the most
important drivers for business and economic
success. Indirectly, the diploma takes IWFM closer
to becoming a chartered professional body. This
will add weight and standing to workplace and FM,
elevating and solidifying the invaluable expertise
that should - and we believe will one day - be rooted
in the core business.
NEWS & ANALYSIS FMJ.CO.UK
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