I wanted to float these thoughts for the wider community, in case there’s some traction with other users.
We find some degree of frustration with a few relatively simple features of the RICS 2nd ed. tool, including:
Detail Report (One Click LCA result report Excel download): Old Excel format - why is this still xls, not xlsx? Can this be upgraded, please?
Detail Report (One Click LCA result report Excel download): Why must this exclude the total kgCO2e?! This is particularly frustrating, as the complicated building project we seem to have to deal with, as standard, require us to create models where the GIA input isn’t necessarily accurate. We simply want the total kgCO2e. Considering it’s a detail report download, we cannot understand why the total carbon value (which was in the RICS / GLA tool) has to be excluded, and why it can’t be included alongside the normalised value.
GIA inputs: There are many RICS-advised values that rely on the GIA value. The way these values are input to the tool mean that users have to manually input the GIA value in several parts of the UI. And the reality of project measures is that the GIA value often changes, meaning entering adn re-entering (or more likely, discrepancies will arise). Even if the value change is relatively small, third-party reviews and planning authority reviews are insisting it must be consistent and accurate. This is a very real problem that we face, which we appreciate seems trivial… Anyone else?
Hopefully we can find some common interests, and have these items addressed in the tool soon.
I appreciate you taking the time to provide us with your feedback and hope others comment too with the changes they would like to see.
Regarding your suggestions to change the format from .xls to .xlsx and add the total kg CO2e, these seem reasonable to me and I have asked @Antti to look into this and let us know what the next steps would be.
About your GIA inputs, I would like to understand this a bit better. Are you using one set of GIA inputs per project which you have to input manually or are there many separate GIA values you input each project and would like to either e.g. get a reminder on where these need to be updated too, or get them all to update at the same time?
Hi Steven, many thanks for your prompt response and looking into these further. I think they had been considered briefly before (through some support cases we raised), but as they seem really small and trivial, I can appreciate they would not have been a priority over other big, exciting developments Hence, posting here to see if others in the community mind find similar.
Anyway, on the GIA matter: it would simply be useful to input the GIA once, and it’s adjusted across the WLCA calculations, where the GIA is the key input – I think this is analogous to how “-1” input for a product’s service life will lead to the calculations assuming the lifespan of the building / the reference study period. If we could tick a box, or input “GIA” for the quantity input, and the calculation took the GIA input on the Building area tab, that would be great.
I think this is relevant because there must be at least 4 or 5 carbon inputs, across the various input tabs, which I would use on a GLA or BREEAM project (and probably many others). These are allowances based on GIA, e.g. the B3 emissions, several of the A5 emissions allowances, etc.
Anything that can make your work a bit easier, even if they are small things, we would like to do. As you said though there are always the bigger items that have to get out of the door too but that’s why reminders like these are useful to us! If other customers would benefit from it too it helps even more with the prioritization.
Thanks for elaborating on the use cases of the GIA inputs for your assessments, that is clear to me. I can see how such a mechanism could work, how it can save time, and help with QA but I’d have to discuss this further internally to see how we can technically implement this. I will discuss this early next week as most of the staff will be on their way out of the door for the weekend by now. I’ll let you know when I’ve talked to Antti about the reports and discussed this with some of our tech specialists.
Thank you for your feedback. I have addressed each point separately below.
Detail Report format (xls vs xlsx):
This can definitely be changed. We have been lately working on the new report service and thus had not considered changes required for the detailed report template. However, the raw data should be possible to download in an up to date file type as well. We will put this item into the maintenance pipeline.
Detail Report in kg CO2e/m2 GIA:
We are currently updating the template according to the requirements clarified by RICS. As part of this update, we will remove the /m2 GIA denominator from the results to match with how the reporting sheet is defined. This update will also include changes to the different sheets of the official reporting template for buildings.
This update will be introduced during this quarter. While we are implementing these updates, as a workaround, you can input the gross floor area of the design as 1 m2 to have the results in total kg CO2e.
GIA scenario inputs:
I think this is a very useful suggestion. As we are in a transition phase to the new input query interface, this is definitely something we can consider to make the scenario type resources easier to use. We shall take this suggestion up with our colleagues currently working on this new interface.
Thank you once again for your valuable feedback. Do not hesitate bringing up more suggestions if you come up with them!
Hence, posting here to see if others in the community mind find similar.