Embodied Carbon Calculations

We are pleased to be able to share that we have added embodied carbon calculations to all our in house light gauge steel calculations from now onward. 

 

This means that as we design your roof, floor and walls in light gauge steel as well as offering physical weight we now offer 'embodied carbon along side.  

 

The weight per square metre for horizontal members such as roofs and floors and weight per linear metre on plan per floor of walls ensures the lightest option is provided as by us as engineers, and is also useful for estimators who use our sister companies light gauge steel add in for Tedds (www.mess.uk.com). 

 

We now offer the mass of embodied carbon along side this physical mass of steel to ensure that our designs are not only as light as possible, but as green as possible! The calculation of embodied carbon can be a contentious point and so to this end we have used the Centre for Industrialised Architecture (CINARK) from the Royal Danish Academy who have developed a digital version of the Construction Material Pyramid, which they published as a poster in 2019. Details are available here - https://www.materialepyramiden.dk/ 

 

Don't forget that using light gauge steel the weight and mass of foundations are also reduced due to the reduced overall weight of the building due to the nature of light gauge steel. As well as these more obvious savings light gauge steel can also offer savings on foundations in terms of weight and carbon due to the ground floor constructions we can offer - suspended ground floors, suitably insulated and ventilated. We can also offer designs that span between screw pile foundations or pad foundations with the ground floor walls able to act as deep trusses, or even simple ring beams spanning between supports. 

 

As a practice, working with our friends at Geologic Foundations, one of the UK's leading manufacturers of screw piles, we can offer in house screw pile design also. 

 

We have generated a design based on a mass developer house type using light weight aerated blockwork inner skin, timber joists and timber trusses and then a design using light gauge steel to replace those elements. If you'd like a copy then please leave a comment below or contact us via the contact page.