
A V-EX CASE STUDY IN THE ‘TARGET NET ZERO’ SERIES
The ‘24 ZERO Construct conference was held over 23rd and 24th April 2024. Traditionally this is a physical event held in London, but this time the team behind ZERO wanted to ‘walk-the-walk’.
ZERO is a global community pushing toward carbon reduction from within the construction sector. So, the decision was made to host a 24hr conference with over 50 speakers from a large venue with an auditorium, networking and exhibition hall with the lowest carbon footprint possible.
No one really expected to hit negative 100 tonnes… this is how it was done.
THE VENUE
The venue, which anyone can visit, consists of a lobby, exhibition hall and auditorium. It was designed to accommodate an infinite global audience providing lots of interaction and dynamic content delivery for 24 hrs, then a persistent on-demand resource that attendees could re-visit anytime, effectively spanning the gap between live events and creating a library of easily accessible reference material for the subject.
There were 11 exhibitors, who all received support to build their virtual exhibition stand and populate it using existing relevant collateral, from pdfs to videos, online resources to contact forms. Every exhibitor also gained access to a custom dashboard showing their visitor traffic and interactions.
Visit yourself by registering here: zerocon.vec-online.com/login
WHAT KIND OF EVENT WAS IT AND WHO MATERMINDED IT?
ZERO Construct is the brainchild of Johnathan Munkley and Matt Jackson. Johnathan (pictured here) is a senior technology and digital strategy leader and Head of WSP’s Digital Services team – for those who don’t know WSP, it is one of the world’s largest civil engineering firms. Matt is Global Strategy Lead for RIB Software, a global leader in digital transformation solutions.
Safe to say they are both at the forefront of actual physical construction technology and not just hosts of a well-meaning community event.
You can watch Johnathan’s introduction to the conference by clicking on Johnathan, or here:

WHO BUILT AND POPULATED THE VENUE?
THE AUDIENCE
The attendees for this event fitted a classic profile for busy professionals, they were typically high-value, time-poor and geographically spread-out.




THE REPORT
Calculation methodology
A post event survey was undertaken with a total of 2,058 attendees from the virtual event invited to respond. Respondents were asked whether they would still attend the event if they needed to travel to a physical version of the event in London, with the response choices being “yes, no, maybe”. They were also asked the mode of travel they would use to attend a physical event:
- For those responding “yes” it was assumed 100% of those attendees would have travelled to a physical version of the event.
- For those responding “maybe” it was assumed 50% of those attendees would have travelled to a physical version of the event.
- For those responding “no” it was assumed 0% of those attendees would have travelled to a physical version of the event.
For respondents, the GHG emission savings (CO2e) from not travelling to the event were calculated for each respondent based on travel type. For those who did not respond to the survey, the average respondent’s emissions were assumed to be consistent with an average attendee who did respond to the survey. I.e. it was assumed to be a representative sample of data.










THE RESULT
It is estimated that approximately 103 tonnes CO2e were saved in travel emissions via holding a virtual event versus a physical event in London.
Why was it so high?
Just under half of respondents said they would not travel, which left over half that would. The event is traditionally well supported and passionately so by those attending, environmental and sustainability being an emotive and important subject both professionally and personally.
There were 271 people who would have taken a flight, including 54 long haul flights, 135 short haul flights and 81 domestically. There were also 569 journeys via train, bus and tube. Car journeys of varying distances added to the total, with 135 of those being fossil fuel powered.
Nearly half a tonne was also saved by using a digital venue over a physical one, although the vast majority of the savings were in reduced travel.
You can request a copy of the full report by emailing enquiries@v-ex.com
ABOUT US
The ZERO Construct digital venue was built by V-Ex.
For over a decade the company has perfected the creation of fully functional photo-real interactive online sales, education and event venues. There are 800+ live instances on the V-Ex Platform from perfect reproductions of university sites to product showrooms and exhibition halls the size of the NEC.
Digital Twin spaces often complement existing buildings and locations and are used to improve accessibility and sustainability. The company HQ is majority solar powered, the servers are green offset, and the film studios are rated AA energy efficient.
When it comes to maximum effectiveness at reducing carbon footprint V-Ex is the only way to go…




NOW IT’S YOUR TURN
There is every reason why you should contact V-Ex to assist with reducing the carbon footprint of your physical event and understand how to create online alternative events that help your organisation meet its Net Zero goals.
Costs start from £3,500 and any event can accommodate 10,000’s of simultaneous visitors from around the world.
A fully independent carbon saving report can be commissioned for any event, available direct from Go Green Experts, Net Zero Carbon Consultants. We can also supply the visitor data and survey results to your preferred carbon saving certification department or supplier.