Cladding Report: Specifiers Grapple with Realities of Sustainability

According to a new cladding report from Cedral UK, 48% of specifiers admitted that they expect sustainability measures they are introducing on current new builds to be out of date within 15 years.

Architects and specifiers also report that they are being hampered in embracing more sustainable building materials for home exteriors by a complex regime of safety regulations and poor communication across the supply chain.

Cedral UK surveyed 250 industry professionals for the Building the Future report which examines the construction industry’s attitudes towards emerging design trends, sustainability and meeting the UK’s chronic housing needs.

Cladding Report

The 30-page study highlights some of the key trends within the facade sector. It examines efforts to balance the need for creativity, while adhering to a swathe of new legislation from the Building Safety Regulator.

Cost of materials (65%) and overall cost of construction (62%) were seen as external obstacles to building innovation as well as a lack of product standardisation (35%) and poor training on sustainable construction principles (34%).

Climate Change

The vast majority of respondents (96%) said that climate change was changing facade design and specification choices. Almost two thirds (59%) said this affected material choice, 56% said they were placing greater importance on insulation and 41% are using surrounding planting.

Interestingly, over a third of architects now give more consideration to a project’s orientation, given the impact of wind, rain and sun on the building’s performance.

Living facades (made from plants and vegetation) are becoming a major trend in urban design according to 40% of respondents. Smart facades (39%), minimalization (32%) and industrial cladding (29%) were also cited as important developments that would become more popular over the next three years.

Nearly a third (32%) of architects also predicted a return to natural materials such as brick, stone or other low-carbon materials such as fibre cement cladding.

New Builds

The new build sector is a major area of expansion identified by the report, finding that more than three quarters (77%) of architects expect to see an increase in the number of new build projects in the next 2 years.

However, there is also an expected rise in refurbishment and retrofit projects. Although just 30% of respondents have noticed an increase in this type of project over the last 5 years, the trend towards improving the aesthetics and performance of existing buildings is gathering pace.

Meanwhile, 31% of architects also expect to see more cladding retrofit projects due to more facade remediation projects among high rise residential buildings.

Even though several major modular construction specialists have failed in recent months, architects still believe that the factory-based assembly of houses can still deliver high quality, energy efficient, affordable homes. Half of respondents confirmed that their practices had seen an increased focus on modern methods of construction (MC) over the last 5 years.

Looking ahead, almost 4 in 5 (78%) of respondents agreed that harnessing off-site construction will become more important for them in the next 1-2 years.

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