Building projects are getting greener, latest NBS report finds

Conducted in association with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), NBS’ Sustainable Futures Report has found that the number of net zero projects being commissioned is increasing. 

Six in ten industry professionals (64 per cent) were found to have worked on a net zero project in the past year, in comparison with around half of all respondents in 2022 (49 per cent).

The study, which surveyed almost 600 people working within the built environment, also aims to understand wider sustainability attitudes and protocols in the construction sector.

In total, 43 per cent of respondents said that they had been successful in ‘accomplishing sustainability’ (versus a third back in 2022). This sentiment was felt most strongly amongst clients but was slightly lower for architects (35 per cent).

In addition to reducing the sector’s environmental impact, these findings could show that target-based construction is making a difference. This is alongside other factors such as product availability, and the increasing use of building product data, which the report claims is crucial for architects to ascertain the ‘greenest’ product or material.