WRAP Embodied Carbon Database Launched G#1469 N#1432

The UK’s first publicly available embodied carbon database for buildings has launched today.

The database, which has been set up by resource efficiency experts WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) in collaboration with the UK Green Building Council, will for the first time provide a free and publicly available resource for building professionals to be able to benchmark their designs to a far greater extent and to more detailed comparative data than was previously available to any single company or individual.

Creating this database has required industry wide collaboration. Arup helped by coordinating data input from right across the construction industry including building owners/developers, trade bodies, other design firms and cost and carbon consultants to prime it with building benchmarking data and organise its beta testing. Arup was also responsible for original visioning, together with detailing the key features and design specification for the database.

“It’s tremendously exciting to finally see the database come to fruition.  It’s going to be an invaluable resource for the whole industry and the information collated will enable us to take great strides forward in creating greater design sense around embodied carbon, and in meeting challenging carbon reduction targets.”

— Andrea Charlson, Project Manager, Arup,

The database has been created in the context of the joint government and industry ambition to reduce emissions associated with the construction industry by 50% by 2025. The database will be instrumental in helping organisations to meet this ambition by providing a source of data which people from across the whole supply chain, including engineers, architects and quantity surveyors, can use to benchmark building designs and as a result, assist in identifying where carbon reductions can be made.

 “Our aim is to create an open, web-based resource for building professionals which will have a real impact in driving down carbon emissions.  The resource efficiency that the database will enable brings with it truly measurable gains to the economy as well as long term benefits to the environment.”

— Gareth Brown, Programme Area Manager at WRAP