Embodied carbon impacts of residential development siteworks: new assessment framework

Unofficial AI-generated summary based on the public title and abstract. Not an official translation.

🔬研究者:Provides a clear methodology for defining physical boundaries in embodied carbon assessment, enabling more consistent comparisons across studies.

🏢実務担当者:Offers a practical framework for developers and planners to include siteworks in carbon calculations, crucial for meeting low-carbon district targets.

🏛政策担当者:Supports evidence-based policies for compact urban growth by quantifying the carbon impact of siteworks, aiding in setting EC targets for infrastructure.

Plans to decarbonise residential construction in many countries focus mainly on reducing the operational energy of dwellings and associated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, rather than the full life-cycle emissions of construction. Although there is a growing body of data that measures the embodied carbon (EC) of different housing types, existing studies have mainly assessed materials within the building envelope. Where siteworks and infrastructure are included, there is often a lack of clarity regarding the physical scope of site boundaries due to the various methodologies used, making it difficult to compare results across studies. This gap is addressed by research underpinning a new framework that provides precise definitions of the physical scope of EC assessment at a range of scales from building to neighbourhood, allowing siteworks to be included in the EC calculations of new developments. A case study housing development in Ireland illustrates the framework. The results show that siteworks comprising hard landscaping and infrastructure add an additional 32% to the total EC for life-cycle stages A1–A5 of low-rise housing typologies, demonstrating the importance of the framework. By integrating siteworks into life-cycle assessment (LCA) calculations, the research highlights the relationships between building typology, residential density and EC emissions. POLICY RELEVANCE Guidance is provided for urban planners, developers and construction professionals focused on designing low carbon districts. While some countries have established EC targets for various housing types, there remains a critical lack of guidance on GHG emissions linked to constructing the broader urban environment and its supporting infrastructure. This research addresses that gap by presenting a framework that breaks down urban form into distinct elements, enabling separate assessment of their EC impacts. Using a greenfield development as a case study, the findings highlight the substantial contribution of siteworks to upfront emissions. Moreover, the framework offers a framework for comparing developments involving existing structures and infill projects integrated into established urban landscapes and infrastructures, thereby supporting policies promoting compact growth and densification within current urban footprints.

• semanticscholar https://doi.org/10.5334/bc.668first seen 2026-06-29 06:38:32