Building Better Futures: Jonathan Weller Becomes Certified BREEAM Infrastructure Assessor

What does becoming a BREEAM Infrastructure Assessor mean to you professionally?
Becoming a BREEAM Infrastructure Assessor is a fantastic opportunity to integrate into some really interesting projects and influence their sustainability impact and overall efficiency. I’ve previously focused very much on carbon and net zero projects (which I still enjoy), whereas supporting projects in achieving BREEAM Infrastructure certification provides a much broader array of sustainability topics to engage with. Projects differ enormously in their scope of work, so it’s rewarding to identify the unique requirements of each project and identify practical opportunities to improve practice, while also challenging how things could be done better to achieve positive sustainability outcomes and innovate.

What past experience helped you achieve this certification?
The BREEAM Infrastructure criteria is broad and you’re not expected to be an expert in all areas, but a good general knowledge of the topics, attention to detail and collaboration across multiple teams is important. My past experiences in conducting carbon assessments for projects and reviewing sustainability standards and frameworks has been helpful, but ultimately, it’s a case of always being willing to learn.

How will this qualification enhance our building-related civil engineering services?
Having in-house BREEAM Assessors means we can collaborate closely and early-on with our civil & structural engineering and design teams and coordinate  with other divisions within Arthian who can support with meeting particular BREEAM criteria, such as  land use and ecology, landscape and historic environment, resource use (including Whole Life Carbon Assessments), social value and more. This helps drive efficiencies for our clients while supporting them to achieve high BREEAM ratings.

What’s your take on how the built environment is evolving in response to climate targets?
Many of the solutions to decarbonise the built environment exist and the business case is there. For example, we have knowledge on high performance insulation in building fabric, renewable heating, hot water and energy generation solutions. Economists also know it’s cheaper to spend on the adaptations and mitigations now rather than deal with the consequences of an extreme world.

The challenge is rolling these solutions out to an aging building stock in the UK on a large and rapid scale. This can’t be done without the right policies, incentives and upskilling of the workforce. Changes are happening, but it needs accelerating further to hit the required ambitious targets to remain within safe climate conditions (i.e. a 1.5˚C warmer world).

Selecting and approving the right infrastructure projects is also critical, as both solutions and mitigations to the impacts of climate change. For example, electrified railways, coastal defence, wind farms, solar farms, flood alleviation, transmission systems, waste transfer stations, power generation, remediation works, energy from waste plants and reservoirs are some examples of projects required in the transition to a net zero economy.

Driving Sustainability Forward
Jonathan’s qualification as a BREEAM Infrastructure Assessor marks another step forward in Arthian’s commitment to sustainability and technical excellence. With this added capability, we’re better equipped to support our clients in delivering infrastructure that not only meets today’s needs but also contributes to a resilient, low-carbon future.