Why is sustainability important to construction?
- Construction makes up approximately 6% of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
- Climate change, resource consumption and water management are all environmental issues that must be carefully considered when working towards sustainability in construction
What are the typical environmental issues that are faced on site?
- Dust
- Sound pollution
- Use of chemicals
- Historic use of asbestos
- Disposal of waste
- Burning petrol and diesel
- Sewage treatment
What regulations and codes of practice govern the construction industry’s approach to sustainability?
- Building regulations - Conservation of fuel and power: Approved Document L
- EPCs / DECs
- Site Waste Management Plans (SWMPs)
- BREEAM and other environmental assessment methods
What do we mean by sustainable development?
- Sustainable development is defined within the Brundtland report as - Sustainable development is development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs
- The three principles of sustainability are social, environmental and economic
Can you define social, environmental and economic considerations in relation to sustainability?
Environmental
- Preventing harmful and potentially irreversible impacts on the environment by the careful use of natural resource, minimising waste and energy, protecting and enhancing the environment by where possible. A measure of the carbon footprint of the building
Economic
- Efficient use of resource, including labour and ensuring the design and construction meets the current and functional needs of the users. Does the development represent overall value for money?
Social
- The development should respond to the needs of the wider community. For example, a failure might be a fast-food restaurant being built next to a school; whereas a library being constructed next to a university would be considered more socially sustainable
How do you measure sustainability?
- Sustainability can be measured by assessing performance of Social, Environmental and Economic principles
- Can also be measured using one of the construction sustainability assessments (BREEAM, SKA, LEED)
What is the Paris Agreement?
- The Paris Agreement sets out a global framework to avoid dangerous climate change by limiting global warming to well below 2 degrees and pursuing effort to limit it to 1.5 degrees
- Under the Paris Agreement, each country must determine, plan and regularly report on the contribution that it undertakes to mitigate climate change
What measures does your company take in relation to sustainability?
- Recycling points
- Lights are switched on timers or sensors
- LED lighting
- Sun reflective glass film
- Car share of using public transport where possible
- Promoting the use of electric cars
- Minimising travel
Name some of the technology available to help meet Part L of the building regs? (Conservation of Fuel and Power)
- Wind turbines
- Solar panels
- Ground source heat pumps
- Rainwater harvesting
- Solar thermal water heating
- Green roofs
- Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS)
- Increase Insulation - reduce heat loss through building fabric
- Solar shading
- Natural ventilation
Can you explain what green roofs are?
- Green roofs, also known as sedum roofs, grass roofs, or living roofs, are roofs that are partially or completely covered with plants and vegetation
- The vegetation is usually planted over a drainage membrane that sits on top of the roof, along with additional layers such as a roof barrier and waterproofing products
What is a U-value?
- U-values measure how effective a material is as an insulator
- The lower the U-value is, the better the material is as a heat insulator
How to photovoltaics work?
- PV’s convert sunlight into electricity
- Light energy strikes cells, electrons are knocked loose from atoms
- Positive & negative electrical conductors capture electrons in the form of current
- The energy is stored in batteries or immediately used to power the building
How does a soakaway work?
- Soakaways are mainly created as a solution to standing surface water
- They consist of a large hole or pit that receives surface water from a drainage pipe and helps the water to slowly percolate through the soil, reducing the risk of flooding
How do ground source heat pumps work?
Ground source heat pumps absorb the energy from the sun warming the ground. They comprise a series of pipes buried underground which extract this solar energy. This energy is then converted into heat for use in the home
Can you name some of the sustainability measuring systems?
- LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) - A green building certification scheme
- BREEAM (Building Research Establishment, Environmental Assessment Method)
- SKA (operated by RICS, SKA rating is an environmental assessment tool for sustainable fitouts)
- CEEQUAL = Civil Engineering, Infrastructure and Landscaping
Can you tell me a little about BREEAM?
- Stands for Building Research Establishment, Environmental Assessment Method
- BREEAM is an international scheme that provides independent third party certification of the assessment of the sustainability performance of individual buildings, communities and infrastructure projects
- Assessment and certification take place at several stages in the built environment life cycle, from design and construction through to operation and refurbishment
What are BREEAM headline assessment categories?
- Management
- Health & Wellbeing
- Energy
- Transport
- Water
- Materials
- Waste
- Land Use and Ecology
- Pollution
- Innovation
What are the key advantages of BREEAM certification?
- Demonstrates level of achievement
- Compliance can lower environmental impact
- Improves internal environment (can increase productivity)
- Can reduce operating costs
- Improves marketability of the client or developer
What are BREEAM ratings thresholds?
- Outstanding = >85%
- Excellent = >70%
- Very good = >55%
- Good = >45%
- Pass = >30%
- Unclassified = <30%
What is carbon neutral?
- Carbon neutral means that, through transparent process of calculating building operation emissions, reducing those emissions and offsetting residual emissions, net carbon emissions equal zero
How can solar gain be prevented in buildings?
- Horizontal shading to glazing (Brise Soleil)
- Limiting the area of glazing
- Orientating glazing away from south facing
- Use of reflective glazing
Which Buildiing Regulations (Approved Documents) apply to sustainability?
Approved Document Part L - conservation of fuel and power
What is Passivhaus?
- Passivhaus is a performance-based set of design criteria for very low energy building, which can help create buildings which use around 90% less energy that standard UK buildings.
- Passivhaus design seeks to eliminate the need for space heating and cooling and is based on the principle that reducing heating loss to a minimum.
What is an Environmental Impact Assessment?
- Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a process of evaluating the likely environmental impacts of a proposed project or development
- The assessment will consider inter-related socio-economic, cultural and human-health impacts both beneficial and adverse
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