A building project can be regarded as sustainable only when all the various dimensions of sustainability (environmental, economic, social, and cultural) are dealt with. The various sustainability issues are interwoven,and the interaction of a building with its surroundings is also important. The environmental issues share, in common, concerns which involve the reduction of the use of non-renewable materials and water, and the reduction of emissions, wastes, and pollutants.
A variety of sustainability assessment tools are available and may be used.
The key sustainability assessment will be done according to OPENHOUSE methodology. Additional tools will be used if there will a lack of data, the evaluation will not be feasible or there will be no appropriate benchmarks.
This task is based on the experiences and findings of recently finished project FP7 OPEN HOUSE (2010-2012), where the scope was to develop a method for sustainability assessment for daily construction practice. The detailed transfer of information is possible since two consortium members SCC and GI ZRMK are also partners in FP7 OPEN HOUSE. Thus the concept of building sustainability assessment according to CEN/TC/350 will be followed.
OPEN HOUSE: a common transparent European building assessment approach
Check for more on: www.openhouse-fp7.eu
The OPEN HOUSE methodology is the result of the collaborative and transparent work of a European network of multidisciplinary experts from research institutions, the building industry and the political sector. It is comprehensive, composed of a set of indicators covering all aspects of buildings’ sustainability and compliant with European Standards.
The OPEN HOUSE methodology is diversified in six categories:
The three pillars of sustainability Environmental Quality, Social / functional Quality and Economic Quality compose the main assessment with equal weight to each other. Technical Characteristics and Process Quality are modules, which are assessed separately. In the category The Location, the site is assessed as an extra module because it is outside the system boundaries.
The following scheme of OPEN HOUSE sustainability indicators will be used for the pre-assessment and assessment of the Eco Silver House. The description of indicators, e.g. the criteria for the assessment will be presented, too.
|
Environmental Quality |
1.1 |
Global Warming Potential (GWP) |
|
Environmental Quality |
1.2 |
Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP) |
|
Environmental Quality |
1.3 |
Acidification Potential (AP) |
|
Environmental Quality |
1.4 |
Eutrophication Potential (EP) |
|
Environmental Quality |
1.5 |
Photochemical Ozone Creation Potential (POCP) |
|
Environmental Quality |
1.7 |
Biodiversity and Depletion of Habitats |
|
Environmental Quality |
1.8 |
Light Pollution |
|
Environmental Quality |
1.9 |
Abiotic depletion of non renewable fossil fuels due to non renewable Primary Energy Demand (ADP_Enr) |
|
Environmental Quality |
1.10 |
Total Primary Energy Demands and Share of Renewable Primary Energy |
|
Environmental Quality |
1.11 |
Water and Waste Water |
|
Environmental Quality |
1.12 |
Land use |
|
Environmental Quality |
1.13 |
Waste |
|
Environmental Quality |
1.14 |
Energy efficiency of building equipment (lifts, escalators and moving walkways) |
|
Environmental Quality |
1.15 |
Contribution to the depletion of abiotic resources - non fossil fuels (ADPelement) |
|
Social / Functional Quality |
2.2 |
Barrier-free Accessibility |
|
Social / Functional Quality |
2.2 |
Personal Safety and Security of Users |
|
Social / Functional Quality |
2.3 |
Thermal Comfort |
|
Social / Functional Quality |
2.4 |
Indoor Air Quality |
|
Social / Functional Quality |
2.5 |
Water Quality |
|
Social / Functional Quality |
2.6 |
Acoustic Comfort |
|
Social / Functional Quality |
2.7 |
Visual Comfort |
|
Social / Functional Quality |
2.8 |
Operation Comfort |
|
Social / Functional Quality |
2.9 |
Service Quality |
|
Social / Functional Quality |
2.11 |
Public Accessibility |
|
Social / Functional Quality |
2.12 |
Noise from Building and Site |
|
Social / Functional Quality |
2.16 |
Bicycle Amenities |
|
Social / Functional Quality |
2.17 |
Material Sourcing:wood |
|
Economic Quality |
3.1 |
Building-related Life Cycle Costs (LCC) |
|
Economic Quality |
3.2 |
Value Stability |
|
Technical Characteristics |
4.3 |
Cleaning and maintenance |
|
Technical Characteristics |
4.5 |
Noise Protection |
|
Technical Characteristics |
4.6 |
Quality of the building shell |
|
Technical Characteristics |
4.7 |
Ease of Deconstruction, Recycling, and Dismantling |
|
Process Quality |
5.1 |
Project Brief Strategy |
|
Process Quality |
5.2 |
Integrated Planning |
|
Process Quality |
5.3 |
Building Performance Targets |
|
Process Quality |
5.4 |
Evidence of Sustainability during Bid Invitation and Awarding |
|
Process Quality |
5.5 |
Construction Site impact/ Construction Process |
|
Process Quality |
5.6 |
Quality of the Executing Contractors/Pre-Qualification |
|
Process Quality |
5.7 |
Quality Assurance of Construction Execution |
|
Process Quality |
5.8 |
Commissioning |
|
Process Quality |
5.9 |
Handover and Performance Evaluation |
|
The Location |
6.1 |
Risks at the Site |
|
The Location |
6.2 |
Circumstances at the Site |
|
The Location |
6.3 |
Options for Transportation |
|
The Location |
6.5 |
Access to amenities |