CarboniCa

Core Features

CarboniCa is designed as a contractor-led project tool, rather than an LCA system requiring specialist carbon expertise. It provides both a simplified workflow and an advanced view where users can adjust assumptions and exercise greater control over assessments.

• Whole-Life Carbon Assessment: CarboniCa measures embodied and operational emissions across design, construction and the building lifecycle, following the RICS Whole Life Carbon Assessment standard.

• Early Carbon Analysis: The platform can be introduced during pre-construction, allowing carbon implications to inform structural, material and construction-method choices while alternatives remain available.

• Carbon Hotspot Identification: CarboniCa highlights building elements associated with higher emissions, helping project teams identify where reductions could have the greatest effect.

• Lower-Carbon Recommendations: Rather than stopping at measurement, the software automatically suggests lower-carbon design and procurement alternatives for project teams and clients.

• Design & Material Comparison: Users can swap components and compare options as designs develop, supporting decisions on structures, materials and other project specifications. Supply chain data and EPDs can also inform product selection.

• Project-Based Data & Reporting: Inputs are structured around information contractors typically possess, including cost plans and BIM outputs. Reports retain assessment assumptions, while the advanced interface allows them to be customized.

Closing Insights

Morgan Sindall began developing CarboniCa in 2017, initially as an Excel-based tool, before launching it as a secure web application in May 2022. By September 2026, it had been used in over 800 Morgan Sindall Group projects, from schools to energy infrastructure. Notable deployments of CarboniCa includes the University of Birmingham's Molecular Sciences Building where CarboniCa supported changes including moving from piled to raft foundations, contributing to more than 350 tonnes of reported carbon savings. At Brighton's Victoria Road project, analysis supported a switch from concrete to lightweight steel framing, with a calculated embodied-carbon saving of 177 tonnes.

CarboniCa is also moving beyond its origins as an internal Morgan Sindall tool. In 2025, Morgan Sindall partnered with Once For All to rebuild the platform for wider construction-industry use. The new version, scheduled for 2027, is expected to add AI-assisted data entry, integrations with estimating and modelling tools, a larger carbon-factor database and real-time material optioneering. In September 2026, RICS validated CarboniCa against the second edition of its Whole Life Carbon Assessment for the Built Environment standard.

Interested users are invited to contact Morgan Sindall Construction to discuss how CarboniCa can be applied to their projects and carbon-reduction requirements.