Shaping Sustainable Cities

Matthew Tribe Managing Director Planning, Design and Engineering, Middle East and Africa at Atkins, a member of the SNC-Lavalin Group, talks about the need for a well-communicated clear strategy on the benefits of owning and running low carbon, highly efficient buildings, resulting in positive changes that benefit the GCC net zero targets

Sustainable urban master planning is a key aspect of future cities’ net zero strategies. Get this wrong and it negates other major efforts to decarbonise, such as reducing emissions from transport or energy sectors. This can be achieved through multiple strategies and will need a mixture of approaches, such that each provides an incremental benefit to produce the transformational shift required.

The GCC has an advantage over much of the world in that a sizeable amount of planning in the region is still greenfield, providing the opportunity for master planners and governments to create mixed-use communities that can be accessed and navigated by walking, cycling and micro-mobility rather than by car. However, there has been a tendency in the region to focus on high-quality, attractive gated communities for residents, where a car is essential to get around, and there are few amenities available within a walkable distance. Local freight and logistics are managed by road and for many, a car or taxi is essential to travel to work. Still today, master plans are launched that are designed around road transport, although this is gradually changing.

To help the region achieve its net zero targets, The SNC-Lavalin Group, including Atkins and Faithful+Gould, has launched the ‘Engineering Net Zero in the GCC’ report, highlighting the interdependency between the built environment, energy, and transport sectors to reduce carbon emissions.

People-centric approach

The region’s built environment continues to be very concrete-based, and for construction to decarbonise, it needs to transform digitally, embrace modern methods of construction (MMC) and investigate novel materials usage. Leading companies are taking these steps, but government legislation is required in some cases to accelerate the process, particularly to push the use of MMC and to ensure safety. There is work underway to decarbonise cement production to an extent through the adoption of refuse derived fuel, which diverts waste from landfill. Carbon capture technology, as is used in the oil and gas sector, could be applied to the cement process, creating a form of ‘green’ cement, but no incentives or drivers for this exist at present. Demand-side management will also play a key role in energy planning, and governments can play an active role in shifting cultural thinking around electricity and water use in the region. Facility management (FM) planning needs to begin at the design stage for a major asset. For owners, good FM will result in their investment performing far better, with controlled maintenance costs and the building being able to attract higher-value tenants.