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Building carbon calculator

We offered free access to our groundbreaking building carbon calculator in 2021, showing that an engineered timber structure could reduce carbon emissions by up to 90%.

Engineered timber is the most exciting building material we have seen in over a century in commercial construction. It is beautiful and sustainable. It also performs brilliantly and naturally lends itself to efficient off-site manufacture and modular construction methods, which reduce waste and save time.

In 2019, we developed a simple calculator that estimated carbon emissions (as global warming potential over 100 years, or GWP100) associated with structural building elements, i.e. beams, columns and structural wall and floor components. You could use the calculator to compare the carbon emissions for different alternatives for a structure by entering the amount of each building material.

Clients want to be more sustainable and they want our help to achieve that. They also need the facts and figures that provide the rationale for their decisions.

We developed our Building Carbon Calculator in response to that demand, to help people change the way their buildings are designed and built.

– Scott Watson, Business Development Director

The sample data in the calculator showed a six-storey, 10,000 square metre building, assuming a level site with a similar roof structure, with a 90% reduction in upfront carbon emissions compared to steel and concrete alternatives.

We offered free access to carbon calculator in March 2021, anticipating that the more use it got, the more likely people were to select sustainable solutions. While groundbreaking at the time, there are now more sophisticated building carbon calculators available, and we have retired our calculator.

We’re delighted to see that engineered timber continues to grow in popularity, including the stunning projects showcased below.