Chapter 4-European overview of sustainable policies and approaches in COST C 25 Member countries Coordinators (original) (raw)
Related papers
2013
The purpose of this paper is (i) to gain insight into how the European member states have addressed the concept of sustainability in their building regulatory frameworks; and (ii) to gain insight in the effects of harmonization attempts of these frameworks by the European Commission (EC). Data on the member states’ building regulatory regimes was gathered using a survey questionnaire. The survey questionnaire addressed over sixty different aspects of sustainable construction that may, in various ways, be regulated by the member states. The data obtained shows mixed results. Some aspects of sustainable construction show far reaching homogeneity, whilst others do not. It appears that current EC directives have a positive effect on homogeneity of sustainable construction regulation throughout Europe. However, this does not provide a firm base to advise more directives as these often appear a too resource intensive tool to achieve sustainable construction in a timely fashion. Additional and complementary approaches to such directives are proposed. The paper presents an overview of how European member states have addressed various aspects of sustainable construction in their construction regulatory frameworks. This provides valuable insights for further studies on regulatory change, regulatory convergence and divergence, and policy outcomes related to sustainable construction in the European Union. Also, the study presents a number of approaches to achieve homogeneity that may complement earlier approaches taken by the EC.
European Sustainable Construction Regulation: Homogeneity and Attention
Understanding the negative impact of the construction industry and the built environment on the ecological environment, the European Commission (EC) aims to harmonise and improve sustainable construction regulatory frameworks in Member States of the European Union. This paper discusses the topics of sustainable construction that are currently regulated in Europe. It asks to what extent there is homogeneity among Member States in doing so; and what strategies the EC may apply in improving both the homogeneity in, and attention for sustainable construction regulation among Member States. It finds that current EC Directives have a positive effect, but may be too resource-intensive to address the ecological risks generated by the construction industry and the built environment in the EU in a timely fashion.
L'industria dei prodotti per l'edilizia ha in Europa un ruolo importante nel promuovere la sostenibilità del costruito, secondo un approccio orientato al ciclo di vita. Nel quadro delle iniziative europee per una competitività sostenibile del settore, le industrie manifatturiere sono interessate a promuovere un approccio che coinvolga tutto il ciclo di vita dei prodotti e degli edifici. Tuttavia molto c'è ancora da fare, in ambito istituzionale e fra gli operatori, per definire e attuare una politica industriale sostenibile e competitiva. Questo articolo intende descrivere il contesto europeo, il quadro regolamentare, identificando le lacune e le azioni da intraprendere per promuovere un mercato dei prodotti e degli edifici sostenibili. In particolare l'articolo tratta della valutazione e della comunicazione, fra gli operatori della filiera costruzioni, delle prestazioni ambientali dei prodotti come presupposto per la sostenibilità del costruito, e del come corretti processi valutativi e comunicativi possano essere messi in atto. a proper evaluation and communication process.
The Way Forward in Sustainable Construction: Issues and Challenges
http://iaesjournal.com/online/index.php/IJAAS/article/view/1321, 2013
Construction industry is one of the most significant industries that contribute toward socio-economic growth especially to developing countries. The nature of the industry are fragmented, unique and complex which always face chronic problems like time overrun (70% of projects), cost overrun (average 14% of contract cost), and waste generation (approximately 10% of material cost). It is also regarded as one of the largest polluters to our environment. Traditional practices of construction process and management are found unable to control unprecedented challenges including the carbon emission issue. These challenges accent the need for practitioners to rethink and improve the construction process and technology. This shows that the construction industry has a major potential in the advancement of sustainable development by addressing issues related to the economic, social, and environment. By adopting sustainable construction, it can reduce the overall energy use and maximize potential for renewable energy supply, minimize waste, conserve water resources, enhance water quality, incorporate water sensitive design and minimize vulnerability to flooding, minimize polluting emissions to water, air and soil and minimize noise and light pollution.
This paper is about, from a North and South different perspective, how the international focus of sustainable construction issues has changed over the past ten years. It is a review from four different international and regional sustainable building conferences between 1998 and 2007. The paper is mostly based of the first author's notes from the conferences, especially from the plenary sessions and discussions, but some contributions are also considered and selected from breakout sessions and from the proceedings. The reviewed conferences are GBC98 in Vancouver, Canada 1998, SB02 in Oslo, Norway 2002, SB05 in Tokyo, Japan 2005 and the regional conference SB07 in Malmö, Sweden 2007. The perspectives presented in the paper are those of construction project and environmental manager from northern Europe and from architects in southern Africa with an interest in sustainable construction. The findings of the paper shows that focus of sustainable construction matters has changed from ...
Concepts and instruments for a sustainable construction sector
Industry and environment, 2003
Summary This article presents an overview of methods used by the Wuppertal Institute to determine sustainability targets in the construction sector and to develop pathways for achieving targeted improvements. Resource productivity is considered over a building's ...
Sustainable Construction: Analysis of Its Costs and Benefits
Sustainability has become the most important issue concerning the construction industry in the 21 st century. The objectives of this paper were: to establish if there is an opinion within the industry that sustainability means increased cost; and to investigate whether using sustainable construction methods save money by reducing a buildings carbon output and running costs. Following the literature survey, a questionnaire survey has been carried out to canvas opinions within the industry. Furthermore, comparison of a traditionally built structure (the original college) against a sustainably built one (the structure being built to replace the original building) has been carried out as a case study with respect to the running costs and carbon outputs. The findings revealed that there is an opinion within the industry that sustainability means increased cost and complicated build ability and that using sustainable construction methods save money by reducing a buildings carbon output and running costs. This paper will benefit clients and developers as they can see how incorporating sustainability into new buildings will enable big savings on utility and maintenance costs once the building is operational.
Sustainable Construction: Challenges and Opportunities
arcom.ac.uk
There has been an increasing concern over the impacts of construction activity on the environment and measures haven been put into practice to mitigate them. These measures include legal frameworks, cultural, technological and managerial processes. The construction industry is under severe pressure in order to adopt environmentally friendly approaches and environmental responsibility is nowadays seen as a competitive advantage. However, implementing environmental management systems within construction organisations is not without significant constraints. Construction sustainability has therefore been a major dilemma for the construction industry. This paper reports initial findings of a larger research project on the implementation of sustainable construction in Mozambique. The paper presents and discusses the most important challenges and opportunities facing construction organisations in implementing environmental management systems in Mozambique. The data were collected through a case study of a construction project conducted from the client's perspective. Construction organisations must devise robust and innovative environmental management strategies in order to comply with the sustainability requirements and take advantages of the opportunities arising from the implementation of such practices.
Benchmarks for sustainable construction A contribution to develop a standard
Sustainability has been enshrined as a goal of society to ensure that the satisfaction of present needs does not compromise the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It is thus a social objective, achievable only where all areas of society cooperate in fulfilling the associated demands. Ecological sustainability is, in turn, a basic prerequisite for sustainable economic and social development. The first step in formulating an effective response to this challenge, focused solely on the environmental issues, entails a quantification of the contribution required from the various areas of human activity for the achievement of sustainable development. Without binding sub-targets for the different sectors, it will be all but impossible to move systematically towards a sustainable society. These benchmarks for sustainable construction therefore set out to define the requirements to be met by buildings and structures in contributing to the achievement of a sustainable society. The permissible impact of buildings, in terms of energy demand and pollutant loads, during construction, maintenance and operation is determined. The analysis focuses on identifying the permissible levels of loads based on the specific energy consumption per m 2 and year for heating, hot water, electricity and construction. A conscious attempt is made to combine existing methods with the general political consensus by taking account of: