How Tech and Innovation can support Climate Resilience and Nature
"No net zero without PropTech"
“We want to understand how tech and innovation can support climate resilience and nature,” said Sammy Pahal, Director of the UK Proptech Association (UKPA), welcoming attendees to the BPF and UKPA’s third ‘Techfast’, hosted by law firm Shoosmiths.
“We know there’s no chance of hitting net zero without innovation,” said Rob Wall, Assistant Director at the British Property Federation (BPF). “Our first two ‘Techfasts’ focused on net zero and carbon. This event looks at climate resilience and how we protect and restore nature, including how we meet our biodiversity net gain (BNG) obligations.
”Head of Energy and Carbon at Greengage Environmental, Rodrigo Garcia Priego, introduced the first of two presentations from PropTech providers: “We worked with ENVI-met on a project that looked at nature enhancement and its impact on climate resilience to determine the best strategy for reducing the impact of climate change, focusing on reducing the urban heat island effect.”
“ENVI-met is the reference microclimate simulation used in over 4,000 scientific articles and developed over 25 years”, said Geoffrey Bessardon, ENVI-met product specialist at One Click LCA. “We combine global warming data with urban heat island effects and those of vegetation and buildings that contain or generate heat. These can increase temperature by between 5-15°C compared to rural areas. But we cannot simply put the air-con on full blast. It’s costly and triggers more greenhouse emissions, intensifying heat island effects.”
He showed a project that simulated heat mitigation measures over a square kilometre of Hyde Park and adjacent parts of Mayfair. These included irrigation sources around trees in the park, canopies for shade, and green facades to buildings.
The varying transpiration rates of tree types, Lime or London Plane common in the park, were measured. London Planes, for example, are less prone to heat stress and have a greater transpiration rate and cooling effects because of their larger leaves, he said.
Seasonal and day/night scenarios illustrated the impact on heat island effects and resilience. These could be compared to studies measuring energy consumption impacts in buildings. “Such simulation demonstrates urban resilience and helps achieve the most cost-effective or comfortable solutions,” said Geoffrey.
One developer said: “We wanted to transform part of the public realm to discover what temperature reduction would be achieved with certain species of vegetation. This kind of study will be more important when we look at new developments and place-based solutions.”
There was increased interest as micro-climate standards were being applied in planning, and had been used in the City of London for some time especially for tall buildings. It was felt there was “massive social value” as well as commercial value in making better places.
“The market, and what investors and owners are looking for in terms of more sustainable buildings, is driving the change right now, rather than policy or regulation. But policy will catchup,” said Rob Wall.
Challenges around data
Sammy Pahal asked attendees what challenges they face in adopting and using PropTech.
“We know that clients’ buildings will be affected by heat stress and climate change,” said one lender. “We’re being asked what adaptations are needed? How do we use PropTech to mitigate these risks on our balance sheet? We’re informing clients of risks and helping with interventions. Issues around climate resilience will become more important, for funders and investors.”
“Ultimately it’s a data problem,” said another attendee. “If we don’t have that we can’t use the technology. It costs a lot to get your data right. What do you need to deliver the outcome you want?” Clients should consider discovering this before seeking a PropTech solution.
BPF members were spending “huge amounts of resource” getting good data, said Rob Wall. Part of the conversation BPF is having with Government is how to help property owners access energy data. This could “speed up the transition to net zero”.
The “siloing” of PropTech and sustainability teams in companies was another challenge. These should be seen as fundamental parts of a business, working jointly with investment and development teams to find solutions.
Using PropTech to help deliver BNG obligations
Shashin Mishra, Vice President EMEA for AiDASH, a global provider of satellite and AI-driven sustainability simulations, told how it was helping developers get to grips with BNG obligations.
Its UK business started in 2021 when a client sought help to meet BNG targets across its assets. “We built them a product and then made it available to the development industry when BNG regulations arrived last year.”
The tool can make a very accurate measurement of biodiversity on a site. Improved satellite imagery means “we can identify habitats and other issues that the regulations require, while using AI helps the platform generate a biodiversity baseline that’s at least 85% accurate,” said Mishra. Then ecologists on the ground can use this to complete a full survey and pinpoint how to achieve a 10% increase in bio-diversity.
The technology becomes a collaborative tool enabling a much quicker study. The platform also takes on notes and imagery produced when the required ecologists’ on-the-ground study starts. AI can also start writing assessments that can be manually edited. “We see this as a “co-pilot” for what developers need to achieve with BNG,”’ said Shashin. The system can also help provide ongoing monitoring of BNG on sites – something some developers struggle to demonstrate in planning applications.
