Designing Net Zero Buildings

Overview

The UK is facing a massive Net Zero transition across its entire economy, and the built environment is no exception. As 2050 fast approaches, with pressure from all sides to meet ambitious but legally binding net zero targets, the sector is transforming the way we not only procure, design and construct buildings, but also how we operate and maintain them over their entire lifetime.

As such, the entire workforce is in urgent need of upskilling to ensure every individual is fully equipped to address the pressing and complex challenges ahead.

This new course, one of four launched by LSBU, presents an innovative model for teaching the skills and knowledge necessary to design net zero buildings of the future.

LSBU is proud to have created a ground-breaking, pilot programme with the support of the Office for Students (OFS) new Lifelong Loan Entitlement (LLE) scheme – meaning students on this short, effective degree level course can apply for a student loan to cover fees, irrespective of past loans and learning pathways.

Course content and structure has been developed in close partnership with leading employers in the construction sector, including Building Services Research and Information Association (BSRIA), Climate Framework, London Energy, Ashden, Clarion Housing Group, Lambeth Council and Southwark Council – ensuring highly relevant, actionable skills that can be acquired alongside a professional career and rapidly applied within the workplace.

Designing Net Zero Buildings, one of four short courses on offer, teaches the critical elements involved in designing buildings that don’t rely on fossil fuels. It focuses on the whole-building systems and HVAC engineering and is aimed at those who are familiar with the built environment but not with low-carbon building services.

During the immersive, one-semester course you will study: the importance and expectations of being a modern, professional building-services engineer in the context of the wider construction industry; the concept, purpose and philosophy of Net Zero carbon design; how passive and active building elements jointly contribute to the successful operation of a building, user comfort and health; and how building services impact on a building’s design and operation including energy needs, whole-life carbon impact, and maintenance throughout the lifecycle.

The course is delivered through lectures, workshops and private study, and involves individual and group projects, site visits, industry-leading guest speakers, and hands-on learning with real-life application.

The course will run concurrently with the three other Net Zero short courses in this programme, ensuring students benefit from insights from other roles within the built environment that impact on their own decision-making and ways of working.

The other courses are:

• Procuring Net Zero Buildings
• Operating Net Zero Buildings
• Leadership and Management for Net Zero Buildings

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