The first of three CarbonBuzz workshops was held this morning at RIBA HQ.

Representatives from architectural practices and engineering consultancies got their first look at the prototype CarbonBuzz website which aims to allow users to benchmark the energy consumption and emissions of their designs against similar schemes.

The online database asks users a series of questions about the design of their projects, and then generates a breakdown which tracks both forecast and actual energy consumption against the other projects within the CarbonBuzz site.

CIBSE/RIBA collaboration, CarbonBuzz
CIBSE/RIBA collaboration, CarbonBuzz

Judit Kimpian from architectural practice Aedas was on hand to steer the workshoppers in the right direction.

Kimpian said: “These workshops are incredibly useful. The practices involved in the pilot scheme have invested so much time for free in CarbonBuzz, so the feedback we get back this week is so important. That way we can go back to BRE, who are developing the site, hone the platform and offer the best possible site to users.”

Users have the option of submitting data anonymously, thus contributing to the overall benchmark, or publishing their full details and becoming a ‘Carbon Conscious Practice’.

Kimpian continued: “Anonymous data will still contribute to the overall sector benchmark but fully published data is what we’re ultimately hoping to encourage. It’s more useful in the long run.”

CIBSE/RIBA collaboration, CarbonBuzz: datapage
CIBSE/RIBA collaboration, CarbonBuzz: datapage

Speaking to BSjonline, Zack Gill, a research engineer from Buro Happold, said: “It’s pretty much what I expected. The type of information the platform wants from you is the same that I would normally collect from a building but have in disparate reports. It’s good to have a single format to channel all that information into. Standardisation is something that’s missing.”

The site is set to launch on 5 November. Click here to access the CarbonBuzz website.