By John Challen

Two new CIHT Learn courses – ‘Carbon Calculation and Accounting Standard (CCAS)’ and ‘Designing and implementing rain gardens’ – are focusing on how increased knowledge can help the industry. The goal is to raise awareness of the issues surrounding these areas and to enable those working in highways and transportation to broaden their knowledge base and put learning into practice.

“Carbon accounting is about [setting] the organisation onto a path where it knows where its carbon emissions are coming from so that it can begin to work how they can be reduced,” says Simon Wilson, Research director at the Future Highways Research Group (FHRG), which created CCAS.

“It’s important because carbon reduction is a key political goal both locally and nationally. If a local highways authority can expose its carbon hotspots, it can start to make the changes to specifications, processes, equipment, plant, staff deployments and so forth that will deliver a lower carbon future.”

Wilson believes that the CIHT Learn course associated with the standard could make a huge impact. “All through this programme we have tried to make the outputs as accessible as possible,” he explains. “There are many tools out there, so I want people to understand that the standard is more important than any piece of software or individual carbon calculator. I think we have tried to lay it out to make carbon calculation and accounting as practical and pragmatic as we possibly can.”

Image: Sally Devine, CIHT Learn associate; credit: Sally Devine

Rain could be the answer

Meanwhile, after multiple councils declared a climate change emergency in the UK in the past few years – and the anticipated Flood and Water Management Act, Schedule 3 is expected to be implemented in England in 2024 – the timing of the Designing and implementing rain gardens course on CIHT Learn seems timely.

Increased levels of rainfall have seen a greater necessity for rain gardens, explains Sally Devine, CIHT Learn associate. “Comparing 1991-2020 to 1961-1990, winter rainfall for the UK has risen by 14%. The increase is not uniform across the UK, however, with the greatest increases in excess of 20% across north and west Scotland, and smaller rises below 10% for central and southern England." 

Authored by Dr Gemma Jerome, Director at Building with Nature, the course provides a practical guide to designing and installing rain gardens on existing streets, with tips on how to avoid common mistakes.

Topics covered include flood risk management and maintaining and protecting the natural water cycle, managing the quality of surface water runoff to prevent pollution and creating and sustaining better places for people and nature through amenity and biodiversity.

“[This] one hour course couldn’t have come along at a better time,” explains Devine. “We’ve had a huge amount of interest and take-up from local authorities and their supply chains, who want to use this course to develop staff knowledge and understanding, ready to meet the challenges of implementation.”

Sign up to either Carbon Calculation and Accounting Standard or Designing and implementing rain gardens.