📅 Held on Wednesday, Sep 17, 2025— 🕠 17:30-19:30— 📍 Dryden Enterprise Centre, Dryden Street, Nottingham 

On Wednesday 17th September, the East Midlands Sustainability Partnership welcomed members and guests to the Dryden Enterprise Centre, Nottingham Trent University, for an in-depth look at the National Rehabilitation Centre (NRC) and the NHS Net Zero Carbon Standard.

The NRC is a £105 million facility near Loughborough, designed to transform approaches to physical and mental rehabilitation. Combining clinical provision with academic research and innovation, it has been twenty years in the making. Beyond its important role in patient recovery, the project has also been one of the first to be procured under the NHS Net Zero Carbon (NZC) standard, providing valuable lessons for the wider built environment.

Through a mixture of live commentary, pre-recorded videos and discussion, the session explored how the Net Zero Carbon brief shaped the project at every stage – from concept design to delivery on site.

Architectural response
Project architect Matthew Morris (Rider Levett Bucknall) highlighted the challenge of introducing NZC requirements after planning permission had already been secured. Responding to the standard required early carbon assessments, new evaluation frameworks, and a re-think of structural solutions. Innovations included the use of non-combustible SIP panels and a rigorous RAG-rating of facade materials, balancing embodied carbon against performance, durability and cost. For Morris, the process drove closer collaboration and gave the team confidence in their design choices, though he noted that “buildings are for people” and NZC alone cannot dictate form.

Engineering perspectives
From a structural perspective, the design team had to reconcile clinical loading requirements with carbon efficiency. Concrete ultimately proved the most viable solution – achieving compliance through an optimised grid, repetition and reduced slab thickness. Electrical engineer Sue Shee (Arup) described how the “Lean, Clean, Green” philosophy guided decisions on lighting, passive design, solar PV and heat pumps, embedding energy reduction strategies from the outset. She underlined how the NZC framework brought clarity and alignment: “It didn’t necessarily make the work harder. It made it more purposeful.”

Site delivery and reality check
Practical challenges were candidly shared. Low-carbon concrete extended curing times, impacting programme delivery; SIP panels required secondary steel, adding unforeseen embodied carbon; and tight Treasury funding deadlines created tension between carbon goals and construction realities. These experiences reinforced the need for early modelling, contractor buy-in, and robust post-occupancy evaluation to test whether performance meets prediction.

Group discussion: Is it fair to impose NZC on all projects?
An open discussion followed. Some participants argued that universal NZC targets are essential to accelerate change; others voiced concern about under-resourced clients, fee pressures and the wellbeing toll on design teams. Links were drawn with the Building Safety Act, noting the risks of poor procurement and the “race to the bottom” in professional services. Several stressed that cost consultants must be engaged earlier and that cultural change is required to make carbon an integral, not optional, part of decision-making.

A project with purpose
The conversation ended on a powerful reminder that the NRC is more than a compliance exercise. It is a place designed to give people hope – where the environment itself supports recovery and rehabilitation. For those working on the scheme, belief in the project’s purpose helped sustain them through the challenges of NZC delivery.

As the evening closed, attendees were invited to take one question back to their own work: “What would change about my project if I was held to a Net Zero Carbon standard?”