In this new #BuildingLife Ambassador Blog Post, Sarah Ingle, Secretary General at the Association of Consulting Engineers of Ireland – ACEI, tell us more about the campaign and why she is supporting it. You can read the interview also on Passive House Plus.
Why did you choose to become a #BuildingLife ambassador?
Among other activities, ACEI members undertake engineering design, inspection and project management work, addressing sustainability and other challenges across the lifecyle of projects. These engineers and other professionals work daily to create solutions for the environmental and societal challenges we face, and they have a key part to play in the decarbonisation of our built environment. I was honoured to be asked to become a #BuildingLife Campaign ambassador and in this role I wanted to ensure the voice of ACEI members was heard, and their experience and knowledge shared.
On a personal level, I think decarbonising our society and economy will be extremely challenging, but a challenge that we must all embrace. It’s really important that all involved in the sector, contractors, design professionals and clients, work together to develop and implement appropriate solutions for future generations.
The #BuildingLife campaign provides an opportunity to highlight once again the urgency to act. I am passionate about this topic, and I believe our members must be at the centre of the transition to a decarbonised built environment.
What are you hoping to achieve with the #BuildingLife campaign?
A key priority for me as #BuildingLife ambassador is to raise awareness about the role of building professionals in our transition to zero carbon buildings. Engineers, architects, surveyors and contractors have important roles to play in the achievement of climate change objectives.
At ACEI, we support our members in upskilling on whole life carbon initiatives, and in aligning their goals with those of the campaign. For instance, we encourage them to set net zero targets, and to encourage their clients to move towards this objective. This transition also requires raising awareness about costs. Designing and developing a net zero carbon building may initially be more expensive, but there is an urgent need to start looking more at costs across complete life cycles of buildings and infrastructure.
Finally, the #BuildingLife campaign is a great opportunity to learn from each other in the industry. None of us can tackle this challenge on our own, so we need to collaborate even more, and share best practices and solutions to fully decarbonise our built environment.
Can you explain a few ways in which ACEI is working towards a sustainable built environment?
We set up an ACEI Sustainability committee a few years ago as engineers have a key role to play in tackling climate change and we knew that sustainability would become an increasingly important aspect of our members’ work. Sustainability is now embedded in everything we do. For example, we have developed bespoke training for graduate engineers and more experienced professionals. Also two awards at our annual Engineering Excellence Awards focus on environmental sustainability, and we try to seize every opportunity to promote more sustainable practices.
In 2021, we launched our “Pledge to Net Zero” initiative followed by a dedicated Summit event earlier in 2022, to encourage our members to show leadership and to make a real difference within their own operations. More specifically, we advocate that all member firms commit to achieving operational Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, and the association provides resources to support them in their related activities.
#BuildingLife is a project led in Ireland by the Irish Green Building Council. The initiative aims to achieve the mix of privasector action and public policy necessary to tackle the whole-life impact of buildings. Learn more here.
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