The Living Building Challenge: a commitment to regenerative design
Sustainable design alone is not enough to decarbonise the built environment – we need to rethink our current systems and practices to create spaces that benefit people, nature and the climate. The Living Building Challenge (LBC), developed by the International Living Future Institute, is a certification programme and philosophy promoting a regenerative approach to building design.
We are committed to embracing the challenge for all new Arup office fit outs in Australia and New Zealand with 50 or more staff and helping our clients adopt a regenerative approach to their projects. Here, we introduce the Living Building Challenge (LBC) and explore how we are supporting the industry in taking on this challenge.
What is the living building challenge?
The Living Building Challenge (LBC) is a globally recognised certification from the International Living Futures Institute for sustainable and regenerative buildings. It is considered an international best-practice standard for sustainable building design and can be applied to all types of new and existing buildings and interiors.
Living buildings are regenerative, self-sufficient and create a positive impact on the human and natural systems. They are organised into seven performance areas ‘petals’: place, water, energy, health and happiness, materials, equity and beauty.
Aligned with our support for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs), we are committed to pursuing the challenge for all our new office fit outs in Australia and New Zealand with over 50 staff.
When undertaking LBC, sustainability is not a negotiable or tradable design aspect. The standard measures net positive and regenerative outcomes holistically across mandatory targets called ‘imperatives.’ For certification, organisations must provide comprehensive design documentation, including 12 months of operational data meeting the imperatives.
Our pursuit of living workplaces
We are pursuing LBC across four new workplaces: Adelaide, Auckland, Perth and Brisbane. This endeavour began as a series of pilot projects, exploring the implementation of the standard due to its strong alignment with the UNSDGs and our ambition to push boundaries with our workplace designs. LBC is now our workplace standard in Australia and New Zealand, setting clear and ambitious boundaries for our designs.
LBC’s mantra ‘What does good look like’ sets a positive tone and challenges our project teams to consider the true definition of best-practice sustainable development.
Our experience applying the standard includes working with existing buildings, heritage structures and timber developments across different counties and states with vastly different architectural results. Through our experience, we have learned applying the Living Building Challenge is context specific, and we must respond to the local environment’s constraints and opportunities.
The biophilic design process, connecting people with nature inside buildings, is a rich engagement opportunity for our project teams, cultural advisors and communities to design and learn together. Our workplaces connect strongly and acknowledge First Nations communities in Australia and Māori people in New Zealand, Aotearoa.
The Living Building Challenge is an ongoing learning journey. With each project, our teams gain knowledge and experience to support industry adoption.
Our Adelaide office fit-out leads in sustainable buildings design
Living Arup, Mezzanine Level, Reserve Bank Building, Australia
Our Auckland sustainable office fit out restores nature and optimises wellbeing
Living Arup, 15 Galway Street, Hayman Kronfeld Building, Aotearoa New Zealand, New Zealand
Connecting work, nature and Country
Arup Workplace, WS2, AustraliaTransforming industry with LBC principles
Our accredited and experienced professionals guide our clients and industry through the Living Building Challenge. We start by exploring the feasibility of meeting the standard, consistent with our Engineers Declare commitment – a commitment to change the way engineers do business – to understand and communicate a project’s potential. Our ideation process can inspire, identify new ideas and deliver impact at all scales. For example, client projects ranging from retail stores to skyscrapers have adopted many of the Living Building Challenge principles without pursuing certification.
We provide multidisciplinary design services to solve the challenges presented by living buildings. Our engineering services and technical specialists support our workplaces and projects, providing an integrated and coordinated approach.
Through urban design, we can design strategies for entire precincts. Our team showcased this ability in the 2023 Development Victoria Living Building Challenge design contest, securing second place. We outlined a regenerative approach for an existing heritage building, aiming to fulfil the 20 mandatory imperatives of the Living Building Challenge for a community centre, serving as the centrepiece of a new masterplan.
Materials and the circular economy
The Living Building Challenge sets rigorous material requirements establishing a framework for implementing the circular economy. Salvaged products and materials must be adopted and represent the easiest and most effective pathway through extensive criteria, focusing on transparency and advocacy.
We seek to comprehensively understand the composition and origins of all project materials, assessing for toxicity, upfront carbon emissions from manufacturing and transportation, and potential air quality impacts. We also seek to ensure all timber is responsibly sourced.
Talk to us
For further information or enquiries please reach out to Richard Stokes, our Sustainability Team Leader in Victoria.
