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David Bennett

David Bennett BSc, MSc, CEng, MICE is a consultant, author and lecturer on the use and application of all forms of insitu and precast architectural concrete. He runs CPDs and Short Courses on Architectural Concrete, advises architects and contractors on fine concrete finishes and specification writing and, since drafting the new book Sustainable Concrete Architecture (published by RIBA Publishing); he can advise professionals on how to audit all the C02 emissions in the construction of a building.

He has a keen interest in innovation and new technology and is the author of a number of published books which include Skyscraper by Arum Press, The Architecture of Bridge Design and Concrete Innovations published by Thomas Telford; Exploring Concrete Architecture and The Art of Precast Concrete published by Birkhauser; Architectural Insitu Concrete and the series Concrete Elegance published by RIBA Publishing.

Review by Chris Hatherill, Editor, super-collider.com

As someone who dreams of one day building an ultra-green house, and a huge fan of concrete, Sustainable Concrete Architecture reads like a bible of sorts. The first part provides detailed information, charts and figures for both current and potential concrete aggregates, including some exciting new green options. I didn't realise exactly how emissions-intensive traditional concrete is, nor the fact that carbon neutral cement could soon be a reality! Though some of the details make for heavy going, I managed to read the entire section despite not being an architect, engineer or specifier. While many of the projects featured in the second section are a little dull, there are a few gems including an amazing private house in the New Forest and the stunning Naturum centre at Hga Kusten in Sweden.

Overall, the book is probably better appreciated by architects and builders (as you'd expect) but I would urge interested general readers to have a look too. David Bennett's key achievement for me was to illustrate and inspire with the many ways sustainable concrete can, is and could be used to create beautiful, clean, green buildings.

Review by Nikki Leguen de Lacroix , Wren River Interiors Ltd.

Sustainable concrete architecture is hardly my first choice for bedtime reading, but as an interior designer and decorator I am always interested in buildings ancient and modern.  David Bennett has demonstrated his expertise as a concrete consultant by putting together this interesting and informative book about the impact of carbon in contemporary concrete architecture.

In today’s environmentally sensitive world where the by word is green, David Bennett notes on p99  ’’While there is much interest in sustainability issues within the construction industry generally, there are as yet no clear accepted definitions of what makes a building sustainable’’.  Bennett has gone a long way to help those of us who are concerned about these issues in design and construction by gathering information and presenting it to us clearly to use as a starting point.  Hopefully this will be of benefit people in the industry to carry out more research and make informed decisions.

For readers like myself who are intrigued by a medium that is so versatile and stimulated by all its possibilities; this is worth a read.

The 265 pages are divided into two sections, the science/technology bit which is a comprehensive insight into the materials and technology issues affecting the embodied carbon dioxide in buildings.  It covers the manufacture of cement including a sustainable production at Ribblesdale, various tables of data of construction materials and their respective carbon dioxide emissions.

The second part of the book contains an excellent selection of inspiring case studies using concrete construction. These projects cover residential buildings, office environments, educational buildings and visitor centres.  Featured among the 23 case studies, The Marylebone School, The National History Museum, The Katsan building in Stockholm and a Jesuit Residence in Glasgow.

Each study has its own merit and is well laid out with colour photographs some with technical drawings or floor plans, its own energy data table, gross floor area and predicted energy consumption along with details of the project’s teams and simple building data.

Review by Matt Bridgestock, Architect, 55 North Architecture.

The ecological case against concrete has been well documented, depending on which source you use between 5% and 8% of the world CO2 emissions come from the production of concrete. Concrete is also the worlds most popular building material. David Bennett argues for the benefits of using concrete in creating sustainable architecture. He does this through a very detailed study of the properties of concrete, outlines alternatives to ordinary Portland cement and then demonstrates their use through illustrated case studies.

The first part is packed full of facts and figures and techniques for lowering the embodied carbon in concrete. The research outlines a wide range of materials including future developments in concrete technology, a concise explanation of embodied carbon at the end of each section is useful together with referenced sources. There are further sections on using concrete for thermal mass and undertaking a CO2 audit of a building. The CO2 audit is particularly interesting in comparing two similar office blocks, one steel frame and one concrete frame, and calculating the embodied carbon in each, demonstrating a substantially lower figure for the concrete frame.

The information is aimed at a student or professional level and allows informed choices of specification. This is one of the few places to find detailed information on the embodied carbon of a variety of constituent parts of concrete which allows architects to consider minimising the embodied carbon of their buildings.

The second section is a series of beautifully illustrated examples of concrete being used sensitively in construction. Examples of residential, office, education and visitor centre buildings are well illustrated and explained. Each case study has a description of the construction, an outline of the important sustainability features together with carbon emissions data and active technologies. These are inspiring reads, clearly conveying architectural intent. After the deeply technical first section, I would have liked to have seen a little more emphasis on the technical aspects of each case study, together with more comparable data on each project however there is enough for most people to get a flavour of each project.

This book did widen my knowledge of techniques for lowering the embodied carbon of concrete and gave me ideas as to how to use concrete strategically to lower embodied carbon and carbon emissions. It is clear that concrete on its own is not the answer to sustainable architecture, however this book proves it might be part of the answer, and that architecture could be quite beautiful.