Sustainability tools

Our energy balance model, EBM has been tried and tested on major urban development projects including Tianjin Eco-City in China. The city for 350,000 will act as an exemplar of sustainable construction and livingMott MacDonald has developed a unique methodology called INDUS that integrates sustainability into the design process alongside ‘traditional’ technical, financial, statutory planning, safety and regulatory decision making criteria. INDUS has been successfully demonstrated on major projects in the Middle East, China and the UK.

INDUS assists our customers in bridging the gap that can exist between their aspirations and the performance of their projects.

• We set objectives for each project taking account of economic, social and environmental sustainability over its whole life. The importance of each objective is weighted at the outset

• This provides a reference framework and scoring system for decision making. As many or as few criteria as necessary can be established to gauge and guide performance

• Key stages are identified over the course of project development at which major decisions are to be taken and scored

• Definition and weighting of objectives is achieved through consensus with our customers and project stakeholders

• Deciding to pursue sustainability at any stage of project development can improve performance. But we encourage our customers to set objectives at the outset to achieve the maximum possible benefit

INDUS is supported by our unique portfolio of tools, which we customise to suit the individual needs and objectives of each project and the different stages of project development. These tools enable rigorous comparison of design options and help our designers to challenge assumptions.

They examine and score whole-life performance as well as initial costs and impacts, enabling a long-term view of sustainability to be taken and highlighting potential cost, environmental or social benefits. Decision making tools also assist with the selection of materials and methods of construction.

Whole-life cost and carbon calculator

LifeCYCLE, our industry-first cost and carbon modelling tool, quantifies initial construction costs and embodied carbon by looking at all elements making up a building or piece of infra-structure. It also calculates the cost and carbon associated with every operation and maintenance activity over the asset’s working life, enabling customers to make strategic decisions based on ‘cradle to grave’ financial and environmental performance.

Carbon cost books

We’ve produced the first ever price book to contain values for the CO2 arising from different construction materials and activities – the annual Hutchins UK Major Works Building Black Book.

CapIT

Mott MacDonald's innovative subscription-based, online estimating solution, CapIT, gives our customers and designers easy access to up-to-the-minute cost and carbon information, allowing for quick and accurate estimating.

Underground thermal energy storage

We‘ve developed a methodology using TRNSYS thermal energy simulation software for analysing the performance of a building and its heating and cooling systems. This includes underground thermal energy storage, enabling it to be incorporated in new build and refurbishment projects as part of the energy strategy.

Energy balance model

Our energy balance model, EBM, enables us to define and cost the renewable energy generating needs of cities and large developments. EBM is the only commercially available tool of its kind. It models the lifecycle cost of the whole development, the equipment required and the optimum locations for different technologies across the site. The system has been tried and tested on urban development projects including Tianjin Eco-City.