London’s First Net-Zero Carbon Street?
Situated in an idyllic corner of North-West London, Lonsdale Road is being transformed by Akoya London into a mosaic of offices, restaurants, cafes, and bars, all across one small stretch of road outside Queen’s Park. The aim of the Lonsdale Road project is to transform the street so it can cater to the needs of a young and creative community growing in the area.
Akoya have set themselves lofty goals for Lonsdale Road when it comes to sustainability, but with our support, resources, expertise, we have no doubt they will be able to achieve them. Akoya’s overarching ambition for Lonsdale Road is to make it London’s first ‘Net-Zero Street’ by 2030. This will be achieved by incorporating sustainability and environmentally conscious thinking into key design decisions for all units.
Where We Fit In
Love Design Studio have a long-standing partnership with Akoya, helping them to reduce carbon emissions associated with their project work across the UK. From the offset of the Lonsdale Road project, we have provided support and consultation to help bake in net zero strategies to the heart of the project.
Two core teams led Love Design Studio’s involvement with the project: Love Zero Waste and Love Energy & Retrofit.
Love Zero Waste
The Love Zero Waste team assessed the carbon impact across the life cycle of the planned refurbishments on Londsdale Road. The work involved calculating the embodied carbon from construction materials, and the carbon generated from the operation of the building once the refurbishment is complete. Our detailed analysis provided us with an understanding of each refurbishment’s carbon impact and was used to inform the design advice we provided the client.
We have a long-term scope of works that consists of carrying out Whole Life-cycle Carbon Assessments (WCLAs) for the full suite of refurbishments associated with Lonsdale Road, at present we have completed over 20 assessments. Using the results from the WLCAs we can compare emissions to industry best practice targets and Akoya’s ESG targets. This gives an insight to the carbon performance of the wider project and allows us to identify high carbon materials, as well as high emission activities and operations. These findings will be crucial in Akoya’s future work and allow them to continue to optimise their approach to refurbishments and continually reduce emissions on all UK work.
There has been significant value garnered from our team collaborating directly with Akoya’s contractors - advising on circular economy principles and material selections from concept design to final build-out. This engagement helps to minimise carbon associated with all refurbishments, avoid abortive work for Akoya and their partners, and ensure early decision making does not lead to later issues.
Love Energy & Retrofit
The Love Energy & Retrofit team undertook Energy Assessments and produced Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) a suite of refurbishments, which allowed Akoya to benchmark the energy efficiency of all buildings across the project and ensure they are meeting best in class energy efficiency requirements.
The team collaborated with Love Zero Waste to produce a ‘Fit-Out Guide’ which will be shared with future occupants to ensure Akoya’s high sustainability standards are adhered to and maintained. The Fit-Out Guide set out clear rules and regulations in order to ensure all new installation and renovation works align with key sustainable principles for Lonsdale Road, including but not limited to; reducing waste, use of low-carbon materials, and reducing energy usage.
Sophia Major Zero Waste Lead
Interested in hearing more about our Love Zero Waste work? Contact us here.
Zero Waste Services
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We assist clients in integrating circular economy principles into their designs for both planning applications and bespoke projects. We provide workshops, conduct research, and connect them with key stakeholders to improve waste reduction, meet key reuse and recycling targets, and deliver the necessary reports to support their planning application or competition work.
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We carry out comprehensive Whole Life-Cycle Assessments to measure and reduce carbon emissions across all stages of a building's life span, from raw material extraction to end-of-life disposal.s here
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We quantify the carbon footprint of materials used in construction and design, offering strategies to reduce embodied carbon through sustainable material specification and circular design practices.
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We guide businesses in transitioning to a green economy by adopting sustainable practices, reducing waste, and improving resource efficiency to achieve economic growth while minimising environmental impact.
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We work with design teams and contractors to achieve sustainable fit-outs, improving energy efficiency and prioritising low-impact and circular material specifications.