The team from Timber Development UK attended the One Click LCA Carbon Experts Summit on 3 June 2026 in London, both to listen in on the developments in the industry and offer guidance and advice via our stand at the event.
How the built environment approaches carbon is an evolving field of practice. Terms which are commonplace in our built environment today, like ‘whole-life carbon’, ‘embodied carbon’, or indeed ‘carbon experts’, were relatively niche even a decade ago. Today, you can host an expert summit specifically on carbon and nearly 200 people will attend – coming from many of the UK’s leading built environment firms.
Bryony connecting with attendees to the summit.
The conversations at these events – while accessible – are sophisticated. They reflect a mature community of practice where people are focused on optimising design and real-world solutions. For leading design teams, measuring carbon is increasingly becoming the baseline. Innovation – on real buildings through clever design and specification – is now expected. This was reinforced with presentations on Timber Square, the Lower Thames Crossing and Robertson Timber Engineering. All went beyond measurement to show carbon reduction through innovation.
There are more product Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) available than ever. Architects have access to powerful software solutions – like One Click LCA – which have made this data accessible, and simple to integrate into designs. We now need action. Below, our team present on the day – Charlie Law, Bryony Bodimeade, and Liam Macandrew, highlight their favourite lessons from the summit.
“Look beyond the carbon count for solutions”
Nearly 200 carbon experts in discussion in the atrium.
‘What stood out was how often speakers linked sustainability with innovation. The discussion was rarely about simply measuring impacts. It was about finding genuinely different ways to design and build. It isn’t just doing the same things with minor tweaks, then reporting measurement as progress. It’s actually being creative and sharing your innovation with the wider community. Making this a key pillar to how you describe the sustainability of your building. Low-carbon design is more than numbers on a graph.’
“Early engagement and strong project briefs sustain sustainability”
‘Keeping a client engaged across a project can be difficult. Over the past several years, we’ve seen global pandemics, energy crises, and wars. Our industry doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and we saw material prices hit – including timber. When cost inflation occurs in a project, the sustainable aspects of a building are often the ones first hit with a red pen. Projects with a strong project brief – a powerful identity – can survive this. Timber Square is a perfect example. It survived all of the upheaval, including a changing team, to emerge as an exceptional project.’
“Timber still leads in low-carbon design”
One Click announced exciting new additions to their product suite.
‘Whether we look to major commercial projects like Timber Square, infrastructure like the timber glulam footbridges on the Lower Thames Crossing, or the low-carbon timber frame kits for residential construction from Robertson Timber Engineering, when teams look to build low-carbon, they are turning to timber Whether the challenge is reducing structural weight, substituting higher-carbon materials in infrastructure, or delivering high-performance housing, timber repeatedly emerged as a key part of the solution. As timber frame systems deliver high-performance, low-carbon homes, engineered timber is allowing timber to reach new spans and heights. Timber is reaching all sectors.
“We can accelerate net zero with technology”
‘While many teams want to consider carbon from day one, there is a cost – of time and resource. Technology is creating opportunities for teams to work quicker, and cheaper. This was seen on the day from One Click LCA, who gave an update on their One Click and SimaPro tools. Both now feature some integration of AI into the creation of Life Cycle Assessments and Environmental Product Declarations. Speed matters. The industry’s challenge is no longer simply understanding carbon impacts. It is integrating that understanding into everyday project decisions quickly enough to influence design outcomes.
Our sustainability director Charlie Law was on hand to talk timber and carbon.
The summit was also a good opportunity to push forward issues raised by our members. TDUK Sustainability Director, Charlie Law, was able to follow up on issues with how biogenic carbon – which is stored by timber – is calculated. Meanwhile the TDUK team on the stand, Liam and Bryony, were able to hand out Embodied Carbon Data for Timber Products, which provides weighted average carbon data for a number of timber based products, as well as the new Biogenic Stored Carbon Quotient standard from Grown in Britain, developed in conjunction with TDUK, which can be used to certify the stored carbon within your building.
While embodied carbon measurement is becoming a prerequisite for most large projects, and continues to evolve, events like the Carbon Expert Summit show how much more can be achieved. They reflect a mature community – well equipped to take on these complex issues. The support of organisation like Timber Development UK with their specialised guidance on timber, together with the innovative tools from One Click LCA, and the passion of all of those in attendance on the day, will be integral to building a low-carbon future.
