Ebook: Portugal SB07. Sustainable Construction, Materials and Practices

The international conference “Portugal SB07: Sustainable Construction, Materials and Practices - Challenge of the Industry for the New Millennium” is organised in the scope of the International Initiative for Sustainable Built Environment (iiSBE). This event is supported by the Portuguese Presidency of the European Union during the second half of 2007 and by a range of international organisations such as CIB, UNEP, SD-MED and COST / European Science Foundation.

This international conference is part of the SB07 regional/national event series and as such constitutes also a preparation for the 2008 World Sustainable Building Conference to be held in September 2008 in Melbourne, Australia. The venue of this conference is also relevant, as it is the first international conference on this topic to be held in Portugal. The organisers hope that this initiative will promote further the sustainability of construction industry and the built environment, consequently, contributing to further sustainable development of Portugal and the other participating countries.

The construction industry is a vibrant and active industry representing approximately 10% of Portuguese GDP. The building sector is responsible for creating, modifying and improving the living environment of humanity. On the other hand, construction and buildings have considerable environmental impacts, consuming a significant proportion of limited resources of the planet including energy, raw material, water and land. Therefore, the sustainability of the built environment, the construction industry and the related activities is a pressing issue facing all stakeholders in order to promote Sustainable Development.

The new millennium is challenging practitioners and researchers with the sustainability of the built environment and the construction industry. Hence, the main purpose of this conference is to discuss these challenges and look for solutions that actively facilitate and promote the adoption of policies, methods and tools to accelerate the movement towards a global sustainable built environment.

The intention of the organizers is to give an opportunity to practitioners, academics, scientists, engineers, architects, contractors, manufacturers, owners and users from all over the world to come together in a pleasant location to discuss recent developments in the field of sustainable construction, materials, practices and construction sustainability assessment.

The conference main topics cover a wide range of up-to-date issues and the contributions received from the delegates reflect critical research and the best available practices in the Sustainable Construction field. The issues presented include:

• Building sustainability assessment tools

• Indoor environment quality and benchmarks

• Sustainable resources and materials use

• Use of non-conventional materials

• Use of industrial waste

• Eco-materials and technologies

• Sustainable management of existing building stock

• Innovative sustainable construction systems

• Design for climate change

• Design and technologies for energy efficiency and conservation

• Design for minimizing and using construction and demolition waste

• Design for service-life

• Design for deconstruction

• Actions and policies to implement sustainable construction

• Designing the sustainable city of tomorrow and Urban Sustainability

• Planning aspects for sustainable construction (construction site, procurement and commissioning)

• Integrated decision making process

• Biomimicry and design with nature

• Teaching sustainable construction

• Case Studies

• Use of IT in design

• Closing the loop

• Design for flexibility

All the papers selected for presentation at the conference and published in these Proceedings, went through a refereed review process and were evaluated by, at least, two reviewers.

We want to thank all the authors who have contributed papers for publication in the proceedings. We are also grateful to the reviewers, whose effort and hard work secured the high quality of papers expected for this conference. Their efforts reflect their commitment and dedication to Science and Sustainable Construction.

We want to thank the support given by InCI (Instituto da Construção e do Imobiliário) that sponsored and made possible the international edition of these Proceedings.

Finally, we want to address a special thank to iiSBE, CIB, UNEP, Ordem dos Engenheiros and SD-MED and wish great success for all the other SB07 events that are taking place all over the world.

The Organizing Committee and Proceedings Editors

Luis Bragança (University of Minho)

Manuel Pinheiro (Instituto Superior Técnico)

Said Jalali (University of Minho)

Ricardo Mateus (University of Minho)

Rogério Amoêda (University of Minho)

Manuel Correia Guedes (Instituto Superior Técnico)

The international conference “Portugal SB07: Sustainable Construction, Materials and Practices - Challenge of the Industry for the New Millennium” is organised in the scope of the International Initiative for Sustainable Built Environment (iiSBE). This event is supported by the Portuguese Presidency of the European Union during the second half of 2007 and by a range of international organisations such as CIB, UNEP, SD-MED and COST / European Science Foundation.

This international conference is part of the SB07 regional/national event series and as such constitutes also a preparation for the 2008 World Sustainable Building Conference to be held in September 2008 in Melbourne, Australia. The venue of this conference is also relevant, as it is the first international conference on this topic to be held in Portugal. The organisers hope that this initiative will promote further the sustainability of construction industry and the built environment, consequently, contributing to further sustainable development of Portugal and the other participating countries.

The construction industry is a vibrant and active industry representing approximately 10% of Portuguese GDP. The building sector is responsible for creating, modifying and improving the living environment of humanity. On the other hand, construction and buildings have considerable environmental impacts, consuming a significant proportion of limited resources of the planet including energy, raw material, water and land. Therefore, the sustainability of the built environment, the construction industry and the related activities is a pressing issue facing all stakeholders in order to promote Sustainable Development.

The new millennium is challenging practitioners and researchers with the sustainability of the built environment and the construction industry. Hence, the main purpose of this conference is to discuss these challenges and look for solutions that actively facilitate and promote the adoption of policies, methods and tools to accelerate the movement towards a global sustainable built environment.

The intention of the organizers is to give an opportunity to practitioners, academics, scientists, engineers, architects, contractors, manufacturers, owners and users from all over the world to come together in a pleasant location to discuss recent developments in the field of sustainable construction, materials, practices and construction sustainability assessment.

The conference main topics cover a wide range of up-to-date issues and the contributions received from the delegates reflect critical research and the best available practices in the Sustainable Construction field. The issues presented include:

• Building sustainability assessment tools

• Indoor environment quality and benchmarks

• Sustainable resources and materials use

• Use of non-conventional materials

• Use of industrial waste

• Eco-materials and technologies

• Sustainable management of existing building stock

• Innovative sustainable construction systems

• Design for climate change

• Design and technologies for energy efficiency and conservation

• Design for minimizing and using construction and demolition waste

• Design for service-life

• Design for deconstruction

• Actions and policies to implement sustainable construction

• Designing the sustainable city of tomorrow and Urban Sustainability

• Planning aspects for sustainable construction (construction site, procurement and commissioning)

• Integrated decision making process

• Biomimicry and design with nature

• Teaching sustainable construction

• Case Studies

• Use of IT in design

• Closing the loop

• Design for flexibility

All the papers selected for presentation at the conference and published in these Proceedings, went through a refereed review process and were evaluated by, at least, two reviewers.

We want to thank all the authors who have contributed papers for publication in the proceedings. We are also grateful to the reviewers, whose effort and hard work secured the high quality of papers expected for this conference. Their efforts reflect their commitment and dedication to Science and Sustainable Construction.

We want to thank the support given by InCI (Instituto da Construção e do Imobiliário) that sponsored and made possible the international edition of these Proceedings.

Finally, we want to address a special thank to iiSBE, CIB, UNEP, Ordem dos Engenheiros and SD-MED and wish great success for all the other SB07 events that are taking place all over the world.

The Organizing Committee and Proceedings Editors

Luis Bragança (University of Minho)

Manuel Pinheiro (Instituto Superior Técnico)

Said Jalali (University of Minho)

Ricardo Mateus (University of Minho)

Rogério Amoêda (University of Minho)

Manuel Correia Guedes (Instituto Superior Técnico)

Article 7 of the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive requires Member States to implement energy certification for buildings, and particularly for large public buildings, requires an energy certificate to be displayed in public. This paper outlines a simplified procedure for the certification of existing public buildings based on measured energy consumption, which is applicable even in countries where information on the building stock is not currently available. Energy consumption data collected for a number of buildings is used to develop energy benchmarks for typical and good practice energy performance. The rating procedure is based on a comparison between the energy consumption of each building and the derived benchmarks; a process that is illustrated in a sample of 88 Irish primary schools. The paper concludes with a discussion on the next steps to a more detailed measured rating procedure.

This paper provides details of the South Capitol Street project, a case study in urban sustainability. The planning and design process for the project was geared to achieving sustainable infrastructure and involved regular meetings of concerned agencies, selection of multidisciplinary consultant teams, regular briefings of politicians at the municipal and federal levels, and comprehensive public engagement. Major thesis of the paper, demonstrated in the case study, is that early collaboration between planners, designers, and engineers, with a mix of disciplines, and steady coordination with political interests, is crucial to urban sustainability. Washington DC, although the capitol of the United States, has been long divided by out-dated infrastructure planned and built at a time when the explicit goal was to clear out blight. Little thought was given to neighborhoods marginalized in the wake of such building. In the new millennium the southeast and southwest quadrants of the city are poised to be redeveloped as thriving urban nodes, and are among the last few places where major redevelopment can occur. However, the existing transportation infrastructure is deteriorated, performs poorly, fails to provide logical connections, and fences off prime developable parcels. In addition, this infrastructure is a barrier to access to the city's unique environmental asset, the Anacostia River. As one of the top ten polluted waters in the United States, it must daily absorb untreated urban pollution and runoff from roads and development in its watershed. It is in need of immediate attention. The Anacostia Waterfront Initiative (AWI) is a unique partnership of federal and local agencies and is a significant revitalization effort for Washington DC. The AWI Framework Plan laid out specific ways that the corridor could be revitalized, including sustainable infrastructure. Improving the health of the river, rebuilding the landscape, and creating vibrant, sustainable communities will contribute to economic development and environmental quality that will be enjoyed by all of the city's residents. South Capitol Street project is underway and part of the AWI. The award-winning South Capitol Street project was planned, designed and will be constructed using several sustainability principles. As a piece of sustainable transportation infrastructure it will address the new context for the corridor while meeting the triple bottom line. Among other innovations, the facilities are designed to treat stormwater runoff onsite and low-impact design features are integrated into the streetscape (environmental). The District Department of Transportation has developed new standards and specifications for the AWI area that include permeable pavers, planting zones, solar-powered lights, and maintenance practices that improve environmental quality. The timing of the infrastructure improvements is carefully coordinated with developers to ensure minimum disruption to the completed facilities by future development and to maximize service to new development (financial). In addition to environmental benefits to the community, project includes training and outreach centers in the project neighborhood (community).

This research is part of an ongoing Master dissertation that aims to propose a set of guidelines to evaluate the sustainability and inform the design of social housing projects in Brazil. This paper presents the development of a questionnaire, based on the analyses and categorization of existing guidelines proposed by Brazilian researches and some of LEED's criteria, and the results achieved with its application in the Barreiros' Residential Development community (Vitória, ES, Brazil). As part of the results, it is presented an evaluation of Residential Barreiros, with a description of the sustainable design solutions in place and also the interviewees' verbalizations and perceptions regarding the development. In addition, it is presented a list of recommendations to contribute to Barreiros' sustainability.

Changes of global climate, exhaustion of natural resources, pollution and destruction of natural habitats are clear signs that human activity is becoming unsustainable. Facing these symptoms of global crisis, it has become consensual that measures to mitigate such problems are needed. The housing sector is a major consumer of resources consequently it is a key area to promote environmental sustainability. The concept of sustainable housing derives form the broader concept of “sustainable developmen”, being also divided in three domains: social, environmental and economical. To promote sustainable housing many guidelines can be set up, having impacts on urban, architectonic and construction levels. These are the themes that this paper intents to discuss in order to clarify some fundamental concepts and provide information about different options.

The environmental performance of new and existing buildings can best be improved by respecting the life cycle perspective. Conducting a Life Cycle Assessment efficiently supports the identification of environmental improvement potentials. The research project “Environmental Improvement Potentials for Residential Buildings” (IMPRO-Building) was initiated by the European Commission (JRC-IPTS). It aims at reducing the environmental impacts from residential dwellings throughout their life cycle, evaluating the current situation of residential buildings in the EU-25, before analyzing improvement options. A generic life cycle model for buildings has been developed to address this question efficiently. It is used to identify the environmental hotspots and to evaluate improvement options. More than 70 building types are assessed consistently. The LCA model makes a distinction between existing (use phase and end-of-life) and planned buildings (construction phase included as well), accounting for different perspectives. Results are demonstrated for examples of different building types from different geographical zones.

As a research and development institution, integrated in the Portuguese National System of Science and Technology, the National Laboratory of Civil Engineering (LNEC) is well positioned and fitted with human and material resources to develop studies and other actions towards the improvement of construction sustainability.

The multiple skills in diversified scientific areas (engineering, physics, chemistry, geology, architecture, urbanism, social sciences) of LNEC researchers are particularly suitable to the interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approach required by environmental sustainability matters. Besides a brief reference to past pioneering studies on this area, the paper describes LNEC present and future research lines on sustainable construction. These research lines include studies carried out on several transversal themes such as environment and sustainability, conservation and rehabilitation, quality in construction, human and social-economic dimensions, and risk and safety. To conclude, some final remarks are presented.

Once Romania has joined the European Community, environmental protection and energy saving have become top priority domains. European standards and codes have become Romanian reference standards and norms.

The present-day housing stock in Romania was mostly built between 1960 and 1989, without the adoption of any efficient solutions for thermal insulation. The operation of buildings more than 30 years old, without general repair work, has led to the occurrence of certain damages, because of the condense phenomenon into the walls.

In Romania a governmental programme is carried out for the thermal rehabilitation of blocks of flats built before 1989. The investment for the thermal rehabilitation of buildings is financed equally by the government and the owners. For each building an energetic expertise is to be performed, in order to issue an Energetic Performance Certificate.

This paper presents the situation of the housing stock in Romania, the evolution of codes and requirements regarding the resistance to heat flow for the elements of the building envelope as well as the latest tendencies concerning the erection of durable constructions. In the end, the author presents the thermal insulation solutions adopted for the construction of the “Iulius Mall” Commercial Centre in Timisoara (~80,000m²), the heat loss calculations and the building energetic certificate.

In the last few years, the impact of construction industry on the environment has been increasingly recognized. Construction sites activities in urban areas may cause damage to the environment, interfering in the day to day of local residents, that frequently claim against dust, mud, noise, traffic delay, space reduction, materials or waste deposition in public space, etc. In a time that we see with pleasure improvements in construction process techniques, in materials innovation and in safety and healthy conditions, it is also necessary to take care of our environment. In this paper a review is made on the several inconveniences of construction impacts both on the sites and on the surroundings using literature and data from a survey carried out to National Association of Historical Centres. The impact analysis focus in detail the noise and waste impact. Forms to minimize these impacts are suggested.

The diffusion of environmental innovations in housing can only progress when the demand for sustainable housing increases. For this reason several initiatives have been taken in the Netherlands to get consumers and real estate agents (more) enthusiastic about sustainable housing. The results of four of these initiatives will be analyzed in this paper: the consumer magazine 'Pure Living', 'open doors' events, a course about sustainable housing for consumers and a course about sustainable housing for real estate agents. Despite the differences between these four initiatives three general conclusions can be drawn: the information should be carefully geared to the needs of the target group – the source of information should be unimpeachable – experience is more convincing than text or talks. The analysis also resulted in practical suggestions to improve the effectiveness of these or comparable future initiatives.

Construction projects and activities are associated with large environmental impacts in different areas. Principles of sustainable development should therefore be followed during construction just like in other industrial sectors. At the organization's level, one of the ways of achieving this goal is implementation of an environmental management system (EMS). The purpose of the paper is to present current environmental management trends in construction companies, which can be used as a baseline for establishing a policy to promote EMSs in construction sector. Benefits and obstacles associated with ISO 14001-compliant EMS implementation are discussed. Results of a survey related to environmental and quality management systems (QMS) in construction companies in Slovenia are presented. They show that the majority of responding construction companies has implemented QMS, and a large proportion of the respondents have also established an EMS. The major obstacles to the EMS implementation, as perceived by the respondents, are the associated high costs, and excessive documentation accompanying the EM. A successful policy promoting the EMS implementation in construction has to be targeted to the contracting companies as well as to the clients.

In Portugal, the sustainability of construction has been looked into over the past few years, especially where quality, safety and natural/energetic resource-saving technologies are concerned. Deconstructing a building is the careful dismantling of that building so as to make possible the recovery of construction materials and components, promoting reuse and recycling. The concept arose as a consequence of the rapid increase in the number of demolished buildings and the evolution of environmental concerns within society at large. Deconstruction paves the way for the revaluation and reuse of construction elements and materials. A critically discussion by deconstruction importance is done using previous studies and data collected from present experiences. This aim is to present the main advantages of deconstruction technique to refurbishment, as well as the guidelines to design process aiming to guarantee a successful management deconstruction process, thereby contributing towards the economic sustainability of said process. The research projects which authors are involved are also discussed.

Many recognize the sustainable construction value as it contributes to the reduction of the environmental impact and to the quality, accessibility and productivity increase for whoever lives and works inside buildings. However, its economic advantages, which would be of great incentive for its expansion into the market, are still obscure. The objective of this paper is to present a methodology to assess the cost-effectiveness of the application of sustainable measures into buildings, through actions that establish a balance between environmental, economic and social factors. The methodology is based on the comparison of a case study (a building with application of sustainable concepts) with some reference buildings that will allow to show the triple bottom line added values. The aim is to achieve an optimum balance point, with an acceptable pay-back time, and to provide evidence of good economic results that encourage the investment into sustainable construction.

Nowadays, there is a global urge to reduce the energy consumption, in order to slow down the environmental pollution. Since the building sector is one of the main energy consumers in Portugal, there is a great pressure for enhancing the energy efficiency in this sector. Currently the measure with more potential to effectively reduce the buildings energy consumption is the new Portuguese thermal regulation. However, to guarantee a good performance in reducing the energy consumption, the thermal regulation must present a good precision in the heating and cooling needs estimation. Therefore, the calculation model of this regulation was evaluated in relation to a dynamic simulation tool - VisualDOE. This evaluation was carried out applying both estimation methods to the Test Cells built in the School of Engineering of the University of Minho and the results obtained demonstrated a good performance of the thermal regulation.

Evolution of environmental sensitivity and spreading of the consciousness of a socially sustainable common acting, economically and technologically, supported by the acknowledgment of a few European and domestic laws, led to definitions of a few local normative tools for the preliminary definition and control of building activity in energy and environment vision. The current experimentations highlight as to make sure that the sustainable building becomes a diffuse and constant practice it is necessary, by the local governments, a deep revision of the methodologies up to today adopted as usual general procedures and in the editing of the urban and implementing planning tools.

The technical infrastructure (networks) of the essential flows (energy and sanitation, i.e. water, waste) is determinative to what degree a project, varying in scale from a (part of a) building to a city or conurbation, will or can be sustainable or even self-sustaining. This is due to its ‘path-dependency’, long term- and endogenous character and the existence of a limited number of dominant actors per network or flow, which have interest in little change of the ‘ruling’ paradigms. The physical and formal distance to users and the complexity for them to understand the processes and possible (sustainable) alternatives result in an increasing dependence (heteronomy) and a declining overall involvement. To be able to change the built environment in accordance with the principles of sustainable development there is a need to turn around the inter-relationship between the infrastructure and the suprastructure. Decisive aspects in a continuing urbanizing, and connected world with crucial dependency on integrated computer networks, will be the flexibility of the concept of generation, treatment and transport of the critical flows; the adaptability to passive- and natural technologies; the seize of space; and the overall resiliency to failure, inaccurate use and sabotage. The paper focuses on rethinking the urban planning as a whole, with emphasis on a changing attitude towards the relationship between the technical infrastructures of especially the energy flow related networks and the ‘suprastructure’. Basis forms the application of the power-law concept, also known as Pareto or Zipf to the technical infrastructures concerning the essential flows in the built environment. Not only the (known) dependency of decentralized concepts on central networks, but also the reverse will be argued: the needed aggregation of decentralized micro-networks, or clusters and systems to the complex and continuously growing centralized networks. Main objective is to cope with the risks of rising complexity and continuing unity, apart from the rising need of resilience of the overall network in case of loss of parts. This, for our economy is increasingly reliant upon interdependent and cyber-supported technical infrastructures and information systems.

In an analysis made to the civil construction sector and to its role in the national energy consumption, we argue the way this sector could contribute for the CO2 emissions at the same way it can contribute so that Portugal could fulfil the goals established by the Kyoto Protocol and stimulating other sectors of activity, witch have very restricted targets defined, to develop themselves. From the point of view of the sector of the construction in itself, the competitive advantages from the incorporation of sustainability principles are presented, especially in what it respects to the energy performance. The main conclusion of this paper is that the contribution of this sector can have advantages that we can define as having 4 dimensions: for the company in itself, for the consumer, for other sectors of activity and, consequently for the country development.

Rehabilitation design is not an activity restrictedly practiced in Architectural offices, but also taught and practiced at Architecture schools. Architects and students have to define their own method to approach rehabilitation design developments; however, they can be theoretically supported. The doctoral research RE-ARCHITECTURE theorized a rehabilitation design process; which was tested by Architecture students in the Netherlands and Portugal, during the academic year of 2005/2006. To better control the effective degree of the contribution, students filled in two questionnaires, one before and one after the development of a rehabilitation design, sustained by RE-ARCHITECTURE. These results sustained the improvements and developments of the simultaneously developed design process support system, REARCHITECTURE^®. This paper presents a survey of the results of the Portuguese students.

Construction is a key sector to contribute for the sustainable development. Firstly, it consumes a high level of natural resources and energy to produce materials and components. On the other hand, its different processes, as building operation and maintenance, generate a large amount of waste. The adequate specification of materials, construction techniques a management systems in design process can contribute in terms of reducing environmental impact. However, the impact of these improvements in new constructions is slow. Due the construction product long-life and the large quantity of existing buildings it is very important to give special attention to the existing constructions, identifying the potential of improvement through programs of sustainable renewal. In this sense, this work proposes a framework to be used as a decision support system by designers to propose sustainable building renewal.

The Higher Education Institutions through its physical structure, in isolated buildings or in a campus, allow the evaluation of the urban and environmental impact by a sustainable assessment. This research shows the actual usage of the natural resources in the buildings of Universidade de Passo Fundo – UPF, related to the aspects of water and energy consumption, and the management of solid and liquid residues, reinforcing the university role in the sustainable development, and, at the same time, allows the inclusion of UPF in the “ECOCAMPUS” group, it means, universities which look for their own sustainability in all of their daily activities (Education, research and management). Therefore, must contribute for a diagnostic of the conditions of the whole building stock of the University, through the application of a methodology according to the principles of the Environmental and Energy Audit.

With growing consciousness for the relation between facades and energyconsumption and the rising sensibility for sustainability, in the beginning of the 21st century double facades, hybrid facades and decentralized mechanical services have been developed. In a market with rising demands on quality and ecologic/economic sustainability, such as Europe, these principles will increasingly have to be applied for the refurbishment of the enormous number of existing buildings. The author's research led to different efficient strategies that deal with the complex influencing factors. It aims to develop systemized solutions for varied circumstances to be found in an international market, for which a service integrated façade is a promising approach. In one example the application of such a system is presented. An additional façade layer with integrated HVAC is being applied to an office-high rise built in 1970. Simulations have shown that an energy saving of 75% is possible.