About this CPD Resource
Design principles for extensive and intensive green roofs, covering stormwater management, thermal performance, biodiversity and the Urbanscape lightweight green roof system.
Green roofs provide significant urban environmental benefits including stormwater attenuation, biodiversity enhancement, urban heat island reduction and improved building thermal performance. This Knauf Insulation CPD introduces the principles of green roof design alongside the Urbanscape lightweight green roof system which uses expanded volcanic rock to provide high water retention capacity at significantly reduced weight compared to conventional growing media.
Learning Outcomes
- Understand extensive and intensive green roof system types
- Apply key design considerations for effective green roof performance
- Understand stormwater management benefits of green roofs
- Specify lightweight green roof systems for urban applications
Who Is This Suitable For?
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Why This CPD Matters
The UK construction industry is responsible for approximately 40% of the country's total carbon emissions — roughly equally split between the operational energy use of buildings and the embodied carbon of construction materials and processes. Meeting the UK's legally binding commitment to reach net zero by 2050 requires a transformation in how buildings are designed, built and operated, and construction professionals are at the centre of that transformation.
Sustainability CPD is no longer a niche interest — it has become a core professional competency requirement. RIBA introduced mandatory sustainable architecture CPD in 2021, requiring all Chartered Members to engage with sustainability topics every year. ICE has made sustainable development (including decarbonisation and nature-positive design) a mandatory CPD theme. The Growing demand from clients, planning authorities and funders for BREEAM ratings, net zero carbon compliance and embodied carbon reporting means that construction professionals who lack sustainability knowledge are increasingly at a professional disadvantage. This CPD from Knauf Insulation Limited directly addresses this skills gap.
Key Topics and Industry Context
Sustainability in construction encompasses a broad and rapidly evolving range of topics. Energy efficiency in buildings — covering both operational energy (heating, cooling, lighting, hot water) and embodied carbon (the carbon emitted in producing, transporting and installing building materials) — is central to the industry's decarbonisation challenge. BREEAM, the world's leading sustainability assessment method for buildings, provides a framework for measuring and improving building sustainability across nine categories. The Passive House standard offers a rigorous energy performance framework for ultra-low energy buildings. Sustainable materials specification, including the use of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) to compare embodied carbon, is becoming standard practice on ambitious projects.
This resource from Knauf Insulation Limited contributes to the sustainability knowledge that construction professionals need to advise clients, design compliant buildings and meet the growing expectations of planning authorities and institutional clients for measurable sustainability performance.
How This Fits Your CPD Requirements
RIBA's mandatory core curriculum includes sustainable architecture as one of the topics that all Chartered Members must engage with each year as part of their 35-hour CPD requirement. ICE has designated Sustainable Development (including decarbonisation and nature-positive design) as one of three mandatory CPD themes that all professionally qualified members must cover over a three-year cycle. RICS recognises sustainability as a core competency for several its assessment pathways and its members are increasingly required to provide sustainability-related advice. CIOB includes sustainability in its CPD framework. Across all major construction professional bodies, sustainability is now a required area of competency development.