In advance of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) taking place in Glasgow, Scotland in November 2021, the UK Green Building Council has announced 17 sustainable projects to be displayed in an online exhibition. The exhibition, titled Build Better Now, will take place in virtual reality, and will also feature a sustainability-focused 360-degree virtual pavilion designed by Make Architects, forming the exhibition’s centerpiece.

Alongside the exhibition of the 17 exemplar projects, the Build Better Now virtual pavilion will host an events series comprising of tours and talks, keynotes, panel discussions, and other downloadable content aimed at highlighting the impact of the built environment on climate change, and potential mitigations or solutions. The events will be free and open to a global audience, running from October 31st to November 12th, 2021.

The exhibition’s centerpiece virtual installation is titled “The Fountain of Circular Recovery” and is designed by Make Architects with the aim of highlighting opportunities for recovery, reuse, and recycling in the built environment. The remaining 17 projects in the exhibition were selected for their scalability and potential for replication, exploring themes such as natural resource use, climate mitigation, and biodiversity.

Projects include a cultural center in Sweden set to become one of the world’s tallest timber buildings, the largest Certified Passivhaus building in the Southern hemisphere in Australia, a 100-hectare innovation district in Italy digitally mapped and powered by 100% renewable energy sources, and the largest new-build energy-positive office building in Norway, which directs surplus energy to neighboring buildings and powers electric buses.

Buildings constructed using natural local materials include a UK university building using thatch and reed, a school in Indonesia built with bamboo, and the first 3D printed sustainable homes made entirely from raw clay. Meanwhile, projects protecting and enhancing nature include a government-led eco-tourism initiative to restore a national park in Rwanda, and a high-tech rewilding project in the Scottish Highlands aiming to restore native forest and peatlands and reintroduce locally extinct species across 100 acres of land. 

Build Better Now forms part of COP26, a summit that will host leaders from around the world in an effort to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. In recent months, numerous studies have been released aiming to chart the impact of the built environment on climate change. In August, a group of universities in the USA and UK published their findings that building tall isn’t necessarily better for the environment, while in June, the World Green Building Council published its 2021 report on net-zero carbon. 

Local and national governments have also recently announced a range of climate mitigation measures focused on buildings. In August, California announced its intention to mandate solar panels for new buildings, while in July the European Union announced plans to become the world’s first carbon-neutral continent with the “European Green Deal”. In June, Miami published a $4 billion plan to combat sea-level rise over the next century, while in March, Petaluma, California became the first city in the USA to ban new gas stations.