What’s stopping us from building less?

As the longest running sporting tournament of all time, the Olympics has set the standard for what an international sporting event should be. Every four years 11,000 athletes representing 206 different countries compete in over 300 different events, and coverage is streamed around the globe. With something for everyone it’s easy to become obsessed, and there’s nothing quite like staying up until 2am to watch the taekwondo final. Plus, the Olympic Games can be a catalyst for environmental and social regeneration in the host nation. London has never been as magnificent as it was in 2012; Olympic excitement spilled over into every corner, the tube actually looked clean and there was a sense that maybe Britain really was “Great”.

But there’s one word that’s rarely associated with the Olympics; sustainable. With athletes flying halfway around the world to run 100m, websites devoted to derelict Olympic stadia and stories of the communities displaced in order to build them, it’s not hard to see why. And it hasn’t gone unnoticed by Olympic organisers. Which is why Paris 2024 has aimed to “cut the carbon footprint of the Games in half compared with previous editions”.

Whilst there appears to be quite a few low carbon gimmicks, including the now infamous cardboard beds in the athlete’s village, Paris 2024 has made a significant dent in the carbon footprint of previous games by limiting new construction. 95% of the venues for the games are either existing permanent venues or temporary demountable structures, with the only new construction being the Aquatics Centre and the Olympic Village. When we know that resources are limited, and we know that construction has a huge impact on global carbon emissions this seems like a massive step in the right direction.

If we’re considering the future of the Olympics, we could quite conceivably make use of existing venues without needing to build anything new for at least the next 50 years. The games might need to change a little, perhaps with events taking place in different locations throughout a country rather than all in one place, but that seems feasible – after all the surfing competition for Paris 2024 is taking place in Tahiti.

But the Olympics aren’t just inspiring in terms of the athletes achievements; for some of us the buildings themselves are inspiring too. I remember thumbing through the most recent edition of Architecture Now and being fascinated by the stadia designed for the Beijing Olympics back in 2008. Plus we’re all making our living by designing buildings – what happens if we stop building?

If we’re building less, then maintenance of the buildings we already have will become much more important

It’s a conundrum that will affect us throughout the industry; to be more environmentally sustainable we need to build less. And if we’re building less, does our industry fall apart? Well maybe not if we can start to adapt and apply our skills differently.

If we’re building less, then maintenance of the buildings we already have will become much more important. Typically, we treat the fabric of our buildings as permanent and pay little attention to maintenance. We might repaint steelwork, but often the structure of our buildings is ignored unless it starts to show signs that it’s failing. If we’re going to rely on something existing, we have to make sure we’re looking after it.

As the way we use buildings changes over time we’ll still need to modify existing structures, perhaps in more innovative ways than we have done previously and particularly if we’re keeping something we might previously have demolished. We’ll need to be able to consider opportunities for buildings more holistically, to ensure that we’re selecting options that minimise carbon without impacting biodiversity or water footprint. And when we do build new, we still need to try and limit the impact of that construction by developing new lower carbon materials and ways of working. We’ll need more focus on research and development to ensure that we are able to move forwards as a sustainable industry.

Just like the Olympics, we have a long way to go in terms of sustainability, but working with what we already have doesn’t have to mean not doing anything at all. There are still plenty of challenges to overcome and maybe that will actually give us more opportunity for innovation rather than less. Constructing beds out of cardboard probably isn’t going to make that much difference, but taking a holistic view and making more strategic decisions might. But for right now, I’m going to enjoy watching our athletes winning a few medals and hopefully feel inspired by their success, rather than the buildings around them.

>> Also read: Championing sustainability: How Paris 2024 is reshaping the future of the Olympics