Construction firms can keep decarbonisation on track during inflation, high borrowing costs and weak demand by treating carbon decisions as part of project risk management—not as an optional sustainability exercise. That means measuring embodied carbon consistently, testing whether a project should be built before selecting what and how to build, and preserving the skills, data and governance needed to make those choices when budgets are under pressure.
That is the warning in Mark Farmer’s comment, published in Building on 8 July 2022. It was an opinion piece written during a period of inflation, rising interest rates, recession fears, the war in Ukraine and political instability. It is not a current policy statement, but its central management problem remains clear: immediate pressures can push long-term carbon work out of the decision process.
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What Mark Farmer’s warning means for construction leaders
The standfirst to Farmer’s article says: “The need to slow climate change could become a casualty of pressure to ease more immediate problems, That would be a serious and painful mistake”. The point is not that economic emergencies are unimportant. It is that postponing carbon decisions can lock a project into materials, specifications and operating assumptions that are difficult or expensive to change later.
Farmer’s argument, as described in the accessible article excerpt and a contemporaneous Building Weekly Digest summary, is strategic rather than a new rule for contractors. It asks leaders to prevent short-term volatility from deciding the long-term shape of the built environment by default.
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For a firm, that changes the question from “Can we afford the carbon work this month?” to “Which carbon information is needed to avoid an irreversible or costly decision?” The answer will vary by project, but the discipline is consistent: make the carbon implications visible at the same gates where cost, programme, quality and safety are already reviewed.
Why short-term pressure pushes carbon down the agenda
When prices rise or workloads become uncertain, organisations naturally concentrate on cash flow, tender margins, labour availability and delivery dates. Carbon activity can be treated as a separate study, deferred until design is complete, or reduced to a statement of intent. That creates several practical risks.
- Late design changes become expensive. Structural form, floor-to-floor heights, façade systems and replacement strategies may be largely fixed before anyone has compared their embodied-carbon consequences.
- Procurement can optimise only for the immediate price. A cheaper option may carry a larger manufacturing, transport, replacement or disposal burden, but that difference is invisible if the project does not use a consistent measurement boundary.
- Teams lose continuity. If carbon responsibilities disappear during a downturn, the organisation may have to rebuild competence when requirements or client expectations return.
- Financing and underwriting decisions lack a common language. Without comparable carbon information, lenders, insurers and clients cannot reliably distinguish a genuinely lower-impact proposal from one using a different scope or accounting method.
These are management consequences, not claims that every low-cost option has higher emissions. A project needs its own data and assumptions. The warning is that failing to ask the question early leaves cost pressure, rather than evidence, to determine the outcome.
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Why embodied carbon is central to the argument
Operational energy is the carbon associated with running a building. Embodied carbon concerns the emissions associated with products and construction activities across the relevant life-cycle stages, such as extracting raw materials, manufacturing, transporting, installing, maintaining, replacing and eventually disposing of them. The exact stages included must be stated; otherwise two apparently precise totals may not be comparable.
The Building Weekly Digest summary places embodied carbon at the centre of Farmer’s concern. That emphasis matters because embodied emissions are often committed before a building opens. Decisions about whether to refurbish or demolish, how much structure is required, which materials are specified and how long components are expected to last can narrow the future options available to a project.
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Embodied-carbon analysis should therefore begin before a detailed bill of quantities is final. At concept stage, a team can compare broad strategies. During developed design, it can test structural grids, material substitutions and reuse scenarios. During procurement, it can check whether supplier declarations and transport assumptions match the design assessment. During construction, it can record substitutions and waste so the final account reflects what was actually installed.
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Farmer’s summary calls for industry-wide and government-supported uniformity in how carbon is measured and valued. The accessible material does not specify a particular standard, software package, threshold or policy mechanism. It does establish the problem: inconsistent methods make carbon results difficult to compare and difficult to use in commercial decisions.
Uniformity has two separate parts:
- Measurement consistency: projects use stated boundaries, units, data-quality descriptions and calculation rules so that like-for-like options can be compared.
- Valuation consistency: clients and finance teams have an agreed way to treat carbon alongside cost, programme, risk and quality, rather than leaving it as an unpriced aspiration.
Consistency does not mean every project has the same target or that uncertainty disappears. A refurbishment, a new-build housing scheme and a civil-engineering project may have different functional requirements and data. It means the differences are explained rather than hidden by incompatible spreadsheets.
Until a client or jurisdiction specifies a current method, a firm should not present one internal calculation as a universal industry result. Record the method used, retain the underlying quantities and assumptions, and state what the figure excludes. Current UK standards, policy requirements and accepted tools must be checked against authoritative sources before they are used for compliance, tender commitments or investment decisions; the 2022 commentary does not establish their present status.
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Use the “whether, what and how” sequence
The digest reproduces Farmer’s sentence that a more holistic approach to “whether we build, what we build and how we build” requires a major shift in mindset, education, competency and supporting underwriting markets. That sequence is a useful decision structure because it prevents a team from optimising a design that should have been challenged earlier.
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Start with the client’s need, not an assumed new asset. Test refurbishment, extension, adaptation, sharing, change of use or better utilisation where those options meet the brief. This is not a universal instruction to avoid new construction; it is a prompt to compare credible alternatives before committing to a new structure.
Define the functional requirement and the period over which it must be met. A transparent comparison should show what each option delivers, which constraints rule options out, and where the evidence is uncertain. If the project proceeds, retain that decision record so later value engineering does not quietly remove the original carbon logic.
2. What to build
Once a build is justified, compare massing, floor area, structural systems, envelope performance, adaptability and expected life. Consider whether the brief can be met with less material or with components that can be maintained, repaired, reused or separated at the end of their service.
At this stage, use a common calculation boundary for each option. Do not select a “winner” because one option has a smaller number produced from a narrower scope. Show material quantities and the assumptions behind them, and identify which changes are still practical before procurement.
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3. How to build
Construction choices affect transport, waste, temporary works, sequencing, rework and replacement. Require proposed suppliers and subcontractors to describe the data supporting environmental claims, the declared product scope and any conditions attached to the figure. Track approved substitutions and site changes so the carbon assessment remains connected to the delivered project.
Methods that reduce waste or site activity can have programme and cost benefits, but those benefits should be verified for the particular project. A lower-impact proposal that cannot meet safety, quality, durability or logistics requirements is not a sound solution.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.A practical framework for keeping carbon work alive under pressure
Set a protected carbon brief
At project start, write down the carbon objectives, the assessment boundary, the decision dates and the person accountable for maintaining the evidence. Treat the brief like other project controls: changes require an explanation, an owner and approval at the appropriate governance level.
Measure early, then update at defined gates
- Concept: compare whether-to-build scenarios and broad forms using consistent assumptions.
- Developed design: update quantities, test structural and envelope alternatives, and identify the largest contributors.
- Pre-procurement: check product data, supplier declarations, transport assumptions and service-life information.
- Construction: record substitutions, waste, deliveries and significant rework.
- Handover: preserve the final quantities, assumptions and limitations so future alteration or maintenance work starts with usable information.
The stages are a control pattern, not a claim about a mandated UK process. Adapt the gates to the client’s appointment structure and verify any contractual or regulatory requirements separately.
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Protect competence, not just a line item
Farmer’s summary explicitly links progress to mindset, education and competency. Keep at least one person responsible for interpreting carbon information, challenge unsupported supplier comparisons, and train commercial and design teams to recognise boundary changes. If specialist support is reduced, retain the calculation files, assumptions and decision log so work can resume without starting again.
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Make carbon visible in commercial reviews
Include carbon consequences in value-engineering papers alongside capital cost, programme, quality, safety and operational implications. Ask whether a saving is a genuine reduction in whole-life risk or simply a transfer of cost and emissions to maintenance, replacement or disposal. Where a carbon value is used, state who set it, what it represents and whether it is contractual, internal or illustrative.
Give finance and insurers usable evidence
Underwriting markets cannot respond consistently to information that is incomplete or incomparable. Provide a short method statement with each major assessment: boundary, data sources, assumptions, uncertainty and changes since the previous gate. That makes the result auditable without pretending it is more precise than the inputs allow.
Decision axes for comparing construction approaches
The available evidence supports the following comparison questions. They are framing axes, not a verified prescription for a particular standard or tool.
| Decision axis | Question to ask | Evidence to record |
|---|---|---|
| Measurement method | How are quantities and emissions factors calculated? | Method, data sources, units and data quality |
| Scope and boundary | Which life-cycle stages, products and activities are included? | Included and excluded stages, transport, maintenance and end-of-life assumptions |
| Consistency | Can options and projects be compared on a like-for-like basis? | Common rules, version or date of factors, and explanation of exceptions |
| Whether to build | Has refurbishment, adaptation or other demand-side option been tested? | Functional requirement, options considered and reasons for rejection |
| What to build | Which form and material strategy meets the brief with the least avoidable impact? | Quantities, service life, durability and adaptability assumptions |
| How to build | How will procurement and site delivery affect the result? | Supplier data, logistics, waste, substitutions and rework records |
What the 2022 article does—and does not—tell you
Farmer’s piece is a dated opinion article, not a current UK carbon standard, legal requirement or approved implementation manual. The accessible sources do not establish today’s policy position, mandatory thresholds, preferred calculation tools, market prices or performance statistics. Do not cite the article as evidence that a particular method is required.
Its value is the decision principle: economic and political shocks should not remove decarbonisation from the project conversation. For current compliance or investment advice, consult the relevant primary authorities, client requirements and competent specialists, and document the edition and date of every rule used.
Questions for a project board before approving a cost reduction
- Are we comparing the same carbon boundary for every option?
- Has the team tested whether the requirement can be met through reuse, adaptation or a smaller intervention?
- Which carbon-intensive decisions become difficult to reverse after this approval?
- What evidence supports each supplier or product claim, and is it current for the specified product?
- Does the saving move emissions or future cost into maintenance, replacement, transport or disposal?
- Who owns the carbon assessment after the design team, procurement team or contractor changes?
- What assumptions must be revisited if scope, programme, materials or logistics change?
Keeping these questions in the same governance routine as budget and programme reviews is the practical response to the warning. It does not require pretending that market pressure is temporary or that every lower-carbon choice is cheaper. It requires making the long-term consequence visible before short-term pressure makes the choice for you.
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