The year is drawing to a close – and what a busy 2024 it’s been for all of us here at Green Building Design!

Successful projects involving both modern and historic buildings, satisfied customers who came back for more, an award win, a campaign launch, and our well-received programme of Continuing Professional Development(CPD) lectures have all been noteworthy achievements during the year.

In addition, our participation in the Specifier Summit andVoices in Construction insight panels, both organised by our marketing partner BCM Agency, have helped establish us as an outspoken authority in this sector, and affirm our dedication to sustainable priorities in construction.

Here, then, is the year that was – with some sustainability-focused thoughts, hopes, and predictions for 2025.

 

Energy Feasibility campaign: Sustainability in £

Let’s start with one of our most recent initiatives, and one that has resonated strongly with its target audience – our Energy Feasibility Reports.

These are aimed at commercial landlords and building owners who risk losing their rental revenues because potential Government legislation may prevent rental of properties with an EPC rating of less than C (by 2027) or B(by 2030).

This ongoing campaign has brought home the financial reality of poor sustainability performance, but it has also highlighted the potential upside – ‘Greener Buildings, Greater Returns’, as the strapline goes.

Sustainability makes business, as well as environmental, sense – and this campaign has spoken to landlords in a commercially-minded way they both understand and value.

 

Buildings transformed

In 2024, we’ve made scores of buildings into more energy-efficient, more comfortable, more sustainable players in our built environment.

Such as 316 Cambridge Science Park, a complete office-cum-laboratory refurbishment that also involved re-pouring the ground floor concrete slab!

Our Caledonian House project, for its part, saw us responsible for establishing a new dilapidations schedule and range of works, and in the beautiful St. Elizabeth of Portugal Church we carried out an extensive retrofit and refurbishment project in a venerable Georgian building.

 

CPDs: upskilling the industry’s professionals

On the CPD front, 2024 was probably our busiest year yet, as we went public with the latest learnings and advances in sustainable building design, to keep our fellow construction industry professionals ahead of the curve.

Both online and at physical events, we’ve covered off building design and engineering topics including dilapidations, carbon-neutral technologies, the changing MEES and EPC regulations, energy efficiency, and wellbeing in the built environment, amongst others.

We’re a certified CPD provider, so our accredited CPDs in 2024 have enabled many professionals in our space to expand their subject knowledge in away that is formally recognised by the professions and bodies to which they belong.

Kicking off the Specifier Summit

A particularly exciting moment for us in 2024 was our participation in the Specifier Summit - an inaugural sustainability-focused construction event that promises to become a firm fixture in the sector’s calendar going forward.

We were also part of the event’s panel of experts, responding to questions from the floor, which gave us some great insight into sustainability concerns, priorities, and uncertainties amongst our fellow construction industry professionals, providing some food for thought for subsequent CPDs.

 

A winning partnership

Most recently, November 2024 also saw us basking in some very agreeable brand reflection, as our marketing partner BCM Agency won the Strategic Planning & Management category at the Construction Marketing awards for growth marketing work it had carried out on our behalf.

The figures speak for themselves: a 19% increase in turnover, 27 new clients won, and an ROI of 1,084%. More than ever before, 2024 has shown that we are working with the right partners to reach the right audiences with a compelling offering.

 

2025: a look forward

As regards what we believe will be the big themes and opportunities for us and our industry in 2025, our participation in the most recent Voices in Construction insight panel certainly brought up some thought-provoking pointers.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) made a strong showing in the discussion, principally for its ability to accelerate back-end processes and increase efficiency, but also for its potential to use cameras and sensors to detect process issues or safety hazards.

Digitalisation, too, was flagged as a priority for 2025, as it enables monitoring, controllability, and, ultimately, reduction of energy use – a cause that’s obviously close to our hearts!

The skills shortage, as ever, will continue to be a challenge in 2025, but we will carry on making our own contribution to resolving the issue with our ongoing degree apprenticeship programme, which gives young people the opportunity to earn while they learn, and produces qualified building engineers at the end of it.

And finally, we believe that innovation in sustainable building materials will be key in 2025, as the market begins to realise that sustainably constructed buildings are, over time, far more cost-effective than non-sustainable alternatives.

So, here’s to an eventful and productive 2024, and a year ahead that could potentially see more sustainable change in the construction industry than ever before.

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