After some great sessions at Sydney Build Expo 2023…what’s next?

Opening the Sustainability stage was Ross Harvey, Director of Structures for NSW with a leading passion for championing the conversation around sustainability and embodied carbon and Valentina Petrone, Waste Management & Circular Economy Lead. These discussions are timely, given that the NSW Office of Energy and Climate Change has recently released the "Circular Design Guidelines for the Built Environment" developed in collaboration with WSP’s Waste Management & Circular Economy team.

Design optimisation to achieve carbon reduction targets

Notably, the panel reinforced the need to prioritise and promote responsible design approaches where material replacement is employed, along with the preservation of existing structures, to embed design for circular economy principles, and design optimisation.

Although preservation and refurbishment of existing buildings are the most efficient way of carbon reduction, it does rely heavily on the condition assessment of the existing structure to develop a preservation strategy.

Like-minded peers agreed that design optimisation is probably the lowest hanging fruit in achieving the carbon reduction targets. Carbon footprint can be achieved by design optimisation within the boundaries of the current building codes. And considering that the development of advanced optimisation methods can leverage state-of-the art technologies such as Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI), these targets are certainly within our reach. 

What does a future focused healthcare look like?

Design opportunities in healthcare was also explored on the infrastructure stage. With billions of dollars invested into our public hospitals, from metropolitan, to regional to remote, the conversations driving around these once-in-a-generation opportunities will change how we design healthcare buildings. In a recent insight shared by Matthew Salisbury, WSP’s National Healthcare Lead and Roneel Singh, Director of Technology Systems, we recognise that the healthcare sector is ever-changing. With many technical and operational considerations, it requires designers to continuously adapt and challenge themselves from the traditional responses. 

Matthew explains, “Healthcare delivery models are being disrupted in many ways – from technological advancement in treatment to tele-health (remote) consultation, physical constraints of existing assets, a desire for more adaptable and resilient buildings, infection control capabilities, through to responding to climate change. As such, it is imperative that we embrace technology to enable better healthcare.”

In the previously referenced insights piece, Matthew and Roneel explore how integrated data analytics can drive a Future Ready healthcare industry, and how we can harness it. 

Similarly on the Infrastructure stage, it was acknowledged that future-focused designs must build in efficiency, resilience, adaptability, and value for money – not just fulfilling the clinical brief.

“These probing questions inspire us as engineers to illustrate how we can implement design opportunities that can set us up for the future; to give the ultimate users the flexibility to adapt our buildings to provide more inclusive and accessible care; to consider out-of-the-box approaches to master planning health precincts; and building in environmental resilience and adaptability for an unknown future,” adds Matthew. “If we are building towards a net zero future by 2030, those implementations must start now.”

People that inspire us

Katie Fallowfield, WSP’s Director of Sustainability acknowledged the importance of our Connection to Country.

While the panel discussed around the energy and carbon management strategies under our net-zero emissions economies, and identifying the major technologies and technological pathways to carbon dioxide management, Katie concludes with an inspiring statement: 

“We have a lot to learn from our nation’s First People. They were here before all of us, and they have the knowledge and skill in carbon management down pat, to a T…”

This is very much in alignment to WSP’s commitment to engage directly with Traditional Owners to incorporate Indigenous design and architecture into large-scale public infrastructure. Read more about how Indigenous co-design is creating a new cultural legacy in Australia.

Katie, along with six other inspiring women of WSP, with different backgrounds from all walks of life, shared their insights on the various stages to embrace inclusion and belonging. 

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