The Embodied Energy and Embodied Carbon of the UK’s Post-War Buildings: A Case Study of Alexander Fleming House

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

🔬研究者:Provides original historical embodied carbon coefficients for post-war materials, valuable for life-cycle assessment and building stock modeling.

🏢実務担当者:Highlights the need to consider embodied carbon in retrofit decisions and shows that new materials are not always lower carbon than historic ones.

🏛政策担当者:Demonstrates a persistent implementation gap between policy targets and actual emissions in construction, supporting the case for stricter regulation.

In the past fifteen years research into embodied energy and embodied carbon in the building industry has increased significantly and will continue to do so as Net Zero Carbon targets grow closer, and general awareness of the effects of climate change increases. Embodied Energy is the total energy requirement for the production and transportation of all materials and components for a building. Embodied Carbon is the total Greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) generated in the production, transport and deployment of materials and components in a given building. Current research into existing buildings and embodied carbon emissions focuses predominantly on the embodied carbon of retrofit materials for heritage buildings; this research is the first of its kind to focus on the historic embodied energy and embodied carbon of historic building materials. The five key building materials outlined in this research are the most common from the post-war period, concrete, steel, aluminium, glass and brick. It is important to the present and future of the building industry to recognise and understand historic emissions and energy usage in order to make informed choices that truly advance environmental and sustainability objectives. The figures presented in this thesis show that, while many contemporary figures are substantially lower than historic energy figures, some figures such as brick have actually increased despite the passage of 65 years. When considering building design, despite the significant discussions on environmental improvements in the building industry, construction practices continue to produce similar results in terms of embodied carbon data. In 2023 the UK construction industry produced 33.6% more GHG emissions than in 1993, highlighting a persistent ‘implementation gap’ between policy and practice. This research highlights the critical value of reusing and retrofitting existing post-war buildings, to inform sustainable decision-making while minimising unnecessary energy consumption and carbon emissions in the building industry. Using a case-study based approach of Alexander Fleming House, a 1960s office building designed by Ernö Goldfinger, and now known as Metro Central Heights, London. The former office blocks are a reinforced concrete frame construction, typical of multi-story office buildings from this era. The project derives its data from the building’s original 422-page Bill of Quantities, which lists the materials required for construction, precise instructions as to how these materials should be formed, and material quantities required.

• openalex https://doi.org/10.17638/03199112first seen 2026-07-21 04:50:51