Built Buildings Lab

What Built Buildings Lab does

Built Buildings Lab is a knowledge-to-action nonprofit organization founded in 2023 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, dedicated to advancing research, tools, and advocacy that promote reuse and decarbonization of existing buildings. The organization's mission is to elevate the embodied value of existing buildings as climate solutions and to empower community leaders, policymakers, building owners, and design professionals to act on that value through tools, research, and coalition campaigns.

The organization's core products include the CARE Tool (Carbon Avoided: Retrofit Estimator), an online calculator used by over 10,000 architects, engineers, preservationists, building owners, and students to compare the embodied, operating, and avoided carbon impacts of reuse versus new construction. The DBTH (Decarbonizing the Built Environment Through Heritage) initiative, launched in 2024 in partnership with Architecture 2030 and the University of Lagos and funded by the Mellon Foundation and 1772 Foundation, adds the DBTH Toolkit (five core principles and 14 detailed case studies) and the DBTH Atlas (a sortable repository of 120+ global examples). Research outputs include the 'What's Old is New: The Business Case for Adaptive Reuse' report and the 'Whole Life Carbon of Commercial to Residential Conversions' study assessing 24 real-world projects and finding 62% embodied carbon avoided and 39% whole life carbon reduced.

Built Buildings Lab operates as a nonprofit funded by foundation grants (notably Mellon Foundation and 1772 Foundation), fellowships (ULI/KPF Kohn Fellowship), corporate partnerships, and individual donations; no commercial pricing tiers apply. The go-to-market is community-led and event-driven, with primary distribution via free self-serve online tools, direct engagement through UNFCCC policy channels, participation in major industry events (COP30, AIA, ULI, Climate Week NYC, Sustainable Buildings and Construction Summit), and a coalition campaign (Heritage Now!) that garnered endorsements from over 20 organizations representing more than 1 million members at COP30.

Name

Built Buildings Lab

Legal name

Built Buildings Lab

Website

https://builtbuildings.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2023

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Built Buildings Lab is a Boston-based nonprofit that advances research, tools, and advocacy to promote reuse and decarbonization of existing buildings, serving community leaders, policymakers, building owners, and design professionals through products like the CARE Tool and DBTH initiatives.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Sustainability Research and Advocacy

akta.pro primary industry

Commissioning, Retro-Commissioning & Controls Tuning (BPABAGAL)

Keywords

• Building reuse research
• Embodied carbon assessment
• Heritage-informed decarbonization
• Adaptive reuse advocacy
• Whole life carbon tools

Headquarters

HQ city

Boston

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Foundation Grants and Donations: Built Buildings Lab is a nonprofit organization that receives funding from foundations (Mellon Foundation, 1772 Foundation) and individual donations. The organization solicits tax-deductible donations to support its mission of representing existing buildings as climate change solutions and advancing knowledge of building reuse.
2. Research Partnerships and Fellowships: The organization conducts funded research projects in partnership with other organizations (ULI Randall Lewis Center for Sustainability in Real Estate, KPF, Architecture 2030, Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability) through fellowships and collaborative grants.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Built Buildings Lab is a knowledge-to-action nonprofit that develops and disseminates research, tools, and policy resources to advance the reuse and decarbonization of existing buildings. The organization produces the CARE Tool (an online carbon comparison calculator), the DBTH Toolkit and Atlas (heritage-informed decarbonization resources), and publishes research reports on adaptive reuse business cases and whole life carbon outcomes.

Product overview

Built Buildings Lab is a knowledge-to-action nonprofit offering a portfolio of research products, online tools, and policy resources focused on transforming existing buildings into climate solutions. The core product is the CARE Tool, an online carbon estimation calculator for comparing building reuse versus new construction. Related products include the DBTH (Decarbonizing the Built Environment through Heritage) initiative, which encompasses the DBTH Toolkit and DBTH Atlas as complementary resources. Additionally, the organization produces research reports including 'What's Old is New: The Business Case for Adaptive Reuse' and 'Whole Life Carbon of Commercial to Residential Conversions.' These offerings work together to support community leaders, policymakers, building owners, and design professionals in understanding and acting on the embodied value of existing buildings.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• CARE Tool: Carbon Avoided: Retrofit Estimator - an online tool for estimating and comparing the embodied, operating, and avoided carbon impacts of reusing existing buildings versus new construction.

Products and services

• CARE Tool (Carbon Avoided: Retrofit Estimator) An online tool for estimating and comparing the embodied, operating, and avoided carbon impacts of reusing and upgrading existing buildings versus replacing them with new construction. It uses high-level inputs to generate early decision-making information about when and how building reuse is the right carbon decision. Used by over 10,000 architects, engineers, preservationists, building owners, advocates, educators, and students.
• Decarbonizing the Built Environment through Heritage (DBTH) Initiative A policy scan, case study development, community engagement, and toolkit creation initiative that integrates transformative cultural heritage-based solutions into climate policy at all scales. Led by Built Buildings Lab in collaboration with Architecture 2030 and the University of Lagos; accepted as an official Cooperative Initiative of the UNFCCC Global Climate Action Agenda.
• DBTH Toolkit A comprehensive resource providing key policies, stakeholders, approaches, five core principles, and 14 detailed case studies for advancing heritage-informed decarbonization strategies through policy. Includes actionable concepts for policymakers, practitioners, communities, and heritage advocates.
• DBTH Atlas An online sortable repository indexing over 120 examples of heritage-informed decarbonization globally, including tools, guidelines, materials, buildings, places, policies, and programs. Filterable by region, example type, and approach.
• What's Old is New: The Business Case for Adaptive Reuse (Research Report) A research report investigating three successful adaptive reuse case studies (West Bottom Flats in Kansas City, Congress Square in Boston, and Oriente Green Campus in Lisbon), demonstrating how real-world projects generate financial benefits while contributing to urban revitalization.
• Whole Life Carbon of Commercial to Residential Conversions (Research Report) A total carbon study assessing 24 real-world commercial to residential conversions, finding approximately 62% embodied carbon avoided and 39% whole life carbon reduced compared to new construction through 2040.

Quantifiable outcome

• CARE Tool has been used by over 10,000 architects, engineers, preservationists, building owners, advocates, educators, and students to evaluate carbon emissions of reuse vs. new construction
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

14 partnerships are on record, tiered major and core.

• World Monuments FundmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 November 2025World Monuments Fund co-developed the 'Plan to Accelerate Heritage-Informed Building Decarbonization' with Built Buildings Lab as one of roughly 100 Plans to Accelerate Solutions at COP30. WMF hosted the COP30 Activation Group 19 meeting at Climate Week NYC.
• ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 November 2025ICOMOS co-developed the Plan to Accelerate Heritage-Informed Building Decarbonization at COP30 and co-sponsored the official UNFCCC Side Event 'What Can We Learn from Climate Smart Traditional Buildings' with Built Buildings Lab.
• Cornell Atkinson Center for SustainabilitymajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 November 2025Cornell Atkinson Center co-convened the COP30 meeting on 'Advancing Culture and Heritage in the UNFCCC Global Climate Action Agenda' and co-developed the Plan to Accelerate Solutions. Research Director Billie Faircloth will join Cornell University in 2025.
• National Trust for Historic PreservationcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 November 2025The National Trust is a partner in the DBTH initiative and hosted the Past Forward 2024 conference where Built Buildings Lab co-founder gave the closing keynote. They collaborate on embodied carbon training for heritage professionals.
• German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)majorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 November 2025DGNB co-hosted the SHIFT Boston Convening and SHIFT @ Climate Week NYC with Built Buildings Lab and Architecture 2030, promoting heritage-transformed approaches to built environment policy.
• Regional Plan AssociationmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2025RPA co-hosted the Climate Week NYC 2025 event 'Climate Threats, Building Loss, and Heritage' with Cornell Atkinson Center and Built Buildings Lab, exploring the intersection of heritage and climate resilience.
• SHIFT (Global Platform for Climate-Responsive Architecture)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2025SHIFT and Built Buildings Lab collaborated at Climate Week NYC 2025, with Built Buildings Lab presenting findings from the DBTH project. SHIFT is hosted by Architecture 2030 and German Sustainable Building Council.
• Climate Heritage NetworkcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Built Buildings Lab leads the Climate Heritage Network's Decarbonizing the Built Environment Through Heritage (DBTH) initiative, which is one of five workstreams in the 'Imagining Low Carbon, Just, Climate Resilient Futures through Culture and Heritage' project. The CHN provides the coalition framework for heritage-informed decarbonization advocacy at UNFCCC processes.
• Architecture 2030coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Architecture 2030 is a key collaborator on the DBTH project, co-leading sessions at events like the Sustainable Buildings and Construction Summit and COP30. They are co-developers of the CARE Tool with Built Buildings Lab. Research Director Billie Faircloth will join Cornell University as a Senior Faculty Fellow.
• University of Lagos Architecture and Urbanism HubcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024The University of Lagos serves as the Africa Region Lead for the DBTH project, working with Built Buildings Lab to engage frontline communities in Africa and gather replicable heritage-informed decarbonization solutions from the region.
• ULI Randall Lewis Center for Sustainability in Real EstatecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024ULI Randall Lewis Center partnered on the 'What's Old is New: The Business Case for Adaptive Reuse' research report and the 'Whole Life Carbon of Commercial to Residential Conversions' study, providing access to commercial real estate expertise and ULI's knowledge platform for dissemination.
• KPF (Kohn Pedersen Fox)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024KPF co-sponsored the ULI/KPF Kohn Fellowship that funded Lori Ferriss's research on adaptive reuse. KPF also collaborated on the Oriente Green Campus case study and the AIA26 presentation on the economic case for adaptive reuse.
• Zero Net Carbon Collaboration for Historic and Existing Buildings (ZNCC)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Built Buildings Lab co-founder Lori Ferriss is a founding Co-Chair of ZNCC. The organization guest-hosts bi-monthly ZNCC all-members meetings, advancing whole-life carbon assessment for existing buildings.
• ICLEI - Local Governments for SustainabilitymajorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2024Built Buildings Lab worked with the LGMA constituency group led by ICLEI to intervene on culture and heritage dimensions of circular economy at SB62 UNFCCC climate meetings in preparation for COP30.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC): Established green-building organization behind LEED. Operates in adjacent sustainability/built-environment advocacy with substantially larger scale and longer track record than BBL.
• World Green Building Council: Global federation of national green-building councils. Comparable global advocacy footprint and policy-influence model for sustainable built environments, but broader than BBL's heritage-reuse niche.
• ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability: Global network of local and regional governments advancing sustainability; BBL partner (intervening on culture and heritage dimensions of circular economy at UNFCCC meetings). Operates in a broader local-government sustainability space.
• Rocky Mountain Institute: Large climate-research nonprofit with significant building-decarbonization practice across efficiency, electrification, and embodied carbon. Operates in an adjacent but much broader climate-energy space with substantially more resources.

Others

• Climate Heritage Network: Multilateral network convening heritage and climate organizations; coalition host and partner for BBL's DBTH initiative. Adjacent/parent network rather than direct competitor, providing the framework within which BBL leads heritage-decarbonization work.

Direct peers

• New Buildings Institute: Nonprofit advancing zero-carbon buildings through research, policy, and market transformation. Similar research-to-policy nonprofit model working on building decarbonization, with broader scope covering new and existing buildings.
• Building Transparency: Nonprofit providing the EC3 embodied-carbon-in-construction tool. Most directly comparable to BBL on building-decision tools for embodied carbon, though more software-product oriented than advocacy-focused.
• Carbon Leadership Forum: University of Washington-hosted research community advancing whole-life carbon assessment and reducing embodied carbon in buildings. Shares BBL's embodied-carbon research and policy-advocacy focus with similar nonprofit/academic hybrid structure.
• Architecture 2030: Nonprofit driving the architecture and building community to climate leadership; co-developer of the CARE Tool with BBL and overlapping mission on embodied carbon and reuse. Closest direct peer.
• National Trust for Historic Preservation: U.S. heritage preservation nonprofit and DBTH initiative partner. Most directly comparable on the heritage-and-buildings axis and on coalition-led climate advocacy for existing buildings.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/built-buildings-lab

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Built Buildings Lab