The CIAT Climate Society

1 Launching the Climate Society
2 Construction value chain and circular-economy growth
3 'Part Z' embodied carbon Building Regulations
4 Purpose and vision
5 SocEnv roundtable featuring member bodies supports new strategy
6 Chartered Environmentalist
7 Related articles on Designing Buildings

[edit] Launching the Climate Society

In 2024, CIAT launched the Climate Society, a network addressing the environmental aspects of Architectural Technology, chaired by Chris Halligan MCIAT. It serves as a collaborative platform where professionals can share experiences and insights, avoid past pitfalls, embrace innovation in environmentally friendly approaches and actively support the industry. Key areas of focus include carbon management, retrofitting practices and specifying sustainable alternatives on projects. Membership to the Society is open to all CIAT members and affiliates but it also welcomes professionals from other institutes participating in similar networks. The Society is steered by its lead coordinator, and chair, supported by a team including Vice-President Technical, Vice-President Practice, Vice-President Education and CIAT staff lead, Steve Fox.

June 2025 marked the Society's first full year in operation at which point it had contributed technical input to the newly published BSI Flex: Competence Framework for Sustainability in the Built Environment, now an industry reference point. Shared knowledge via talks at Society meetings on topics such as Opportunities in Commercial Retrofit and Domestic Retrofit at Scale and its debut information sheet, Sustainable Design – Technical Solutions. Chair Chris Halligan's interview in AT Journal supported by events. Developing CIAT's position statement on Part Z – the proposed Building Regulations amendment on embodied carbon - laying vital groundwork ahead of expected legislation.

[edit] Construction value chain and circular-economy growth

A roundtable held in London in November, 2025 discovered how the UK construction sector is lagging behind on harnessing circular economy approaches to prioritise whole-life benefits over short term gain.

Building Insights LIVE brought together trade bodies, specifiers, consultants and manufacturers to share knowledge around growing the use of the circular economy in UK construction projects, to help the industry arrive at practical solutions. As well as navigating challenges around reusing and recycling materials, many of which are endemic in construction sector processes, manufacturers and specifiers have been pursuing LCA, reuse and recycling for many years, particularly in pockets of the UK, as delegates discovered.

The group explored how realistic rolling out truly ‘circular’ solutions was currently to the wider construction industry, including housebuilding, and who would be likely to bear the risks and rewards. The round table agreed that ESG policies still work to incentivise major commercial clients on whole life carbon, but that other sectors may need a more interventionist approach from government, including ‘sticks’ rather than ‘carrots.’

The group included Chris Halligan MCIAT, Chair of CIAT's Climate Society, Homes England and other key representatives from industry trade bodies such as the BDA, Alliance for Sustainable Building Products, and Material Index.

The discussion discovered a layered picture of challenges, issues around defining circularity itself, but also pockets of innovation and success with clients and designers aligning to discover practical approaches to drastically reduce carbon long-term in new build as well as refurbishment contexts.

James Parker, event chair, said:

"Construction has the biggest waste profile of any sector, and therefore the most to contribute to progressing the circular economy. This round table brought together like minds to drive practical change across the industry."

[edit] 'Part Z' embodied carbon Building Regulations

In July, CIAT announced their support for regulation of embodied or ‘whole life’ carbon in construction, through the proposed ‘Part Z’ Building Regulations, as an essential step to delivering a net zero built environment sector.

The ‘Part Z’ Regulations are an industry-proposed amendment to The Building Regulations 2010, which would require developers to assess and report on the emissions embodied in the construction of a new building, and would allow for limits to be set on those embodied emissions, which could be ratcheted down over time, as low-carbon materials and processes improve. The CIAT endorsement positioned them as a strong advocate for sustainable design and low carbon construction.

Chis Halligan MCIAT, Chair of the CIAT Climate Society, said:

"The decisions we make over the next few years will have a profound impact on our climate, our communities and our wellbeing for decades, perhaps centuries, to come. We know we need to reduce the emissions associated with construction; if cement were a country, its carbon emissions would be third only to the USA and China."

"But to deliver the best outcomes we need to go further, embedding sustainability as a design objective from the outset, rather than treating it as a bolt-on or optional extra. That way, we can deliver buildings which stand the test of time, tread lightly upon the planet, and deliver safety and resilience for building users and wider communities."

"'Part Z' only addresses embodied carbon, but by forcing designers and developers to consider sustainability from the outset, it can help raise ambitions across the sector, driving lasting change and preventing a race to the bottom. That means it’s a great place to start."

[edit] Purpose and vision

The Climate Society serves as a collaborative platform where professionals can share experiences and insights to avoid past pitfalls and embrace innovative, environmentally friendly approaches. Key areas of focus include carbon management, retrofitting practices and specifying sustainable alternatives on projects.

Our goals include the following:

Develop authoritative resources to guide our members and affiliates and their clients.
Elevate awareness about current trends, blockers and drivers.
Maintain a schedule of environmental core competencies.
Maintain a schedule of relevant institute affiliations.
Respond to relevant consultations.
Establish CIAT position statements on climate matters.
Foster collaboration with other professional institutes and key stakeholders.

We are committed to exploring innovative working methods that maximise our impact while minimising the burden of excessive email correspondence. To achieve this, we plan to hold quarterly remote meetings where we establish concrete goals ('homework'). These goals will be worked on between meetings and will be supported primarily through Discord, keeping our communications largely out of traditional inboxes. During our remote sessions, we will utilise virtual whiteboards etc., allowing ideas to be shared and developed in real time.

We view this as a dynamic, iterative process. In our first year, we will frequently review and refine our methods, with the goal of establishing the most productive ways of working as we move forward.

For more information visit https://architecturaltechnology.com/resources/climate-society.html

[edit] SocEnv roundtable featuring member bodies supports new strategy

Leadership teams from across Society for the Environment's (SocEnv) 28 Member Bodies, including CIAT, met in November 2025 to dig deeper into the development of its new strategy, to be launched in 2026.

With the development of the Society's new strategy in full swing, the aim was to get the detailed input from its Member Bodies.This second roundtable of its kind follows an overarching ideas session in May.

Following the roundtable, Chair of SocEnv, Dougal Driver CEnv, said: "It was so inspiring to host our Member Body partners to add depth to how the collective knowledge and influence of 650,000+ members can work strategically together, and through day-to-day actions, to drive positive environmental change. The plethora of ideas, along with a collective call to be dynamic and agile in our work, was fantastic to witness."

The professional award of Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv) recognises the specialist knowledge of CIAT's Members whose work contributes to mitigating and solving environmental challenges.

CIAT is licensed by The Society for the Environment (SocEnv) to award the Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv) qualification. The CEnv qualification is granted to those who have demonstrated knowledge, proven experience, and a profound commitment to applying sustainable best practice within the area of sustainability and the environment.

[edit] Chartered Environmentalist

The professional award of Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv) recognises the specialist knowledge of CIAT's members whose work contributes to mitigating and solving environmental challenges. CIAT is licensed by The Society for the Environment (SocEnv) to award the Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv) qualification. The CEnv qualification is granted to those who have demonstrated knowledge, proven experience, and a profound commitment to applying sustainable best practice within the area of sustainability and the environment.

The global built environment sector is seeing an increasing number of complex sustainability and environmental challenges, and as a result, there is growing demand for professionals who have the knowledge and experience to help solve these issues. The Chartered Environmentalist qualification, CEnv, is a demonstration of a Chartered Architectural Technologist's competence, professionalism, and dedication to providing solutions within this area.

The Chartered Environmentalist qualification gives environmental practitioners:

a way of demonstrating their specialist competence within the sector,
recognition of their commitment to environmental best practice within their particular field of expertise,
professional registration with CIAT and the Society for the Environment,
recognition beyond their specific sector.