6.5 Sustainable Buildings Strategy

 

 

6.5 Sustainable Buildings Strategy


Building Research Establishment (BRE 2002) published a guide to assist developers when identifying sustainability issues, which include:

  • Land Use, Urban Form and Design
  • Transport
  • Energy
  • Impact of individual buildings
  • Natural resources
  • Ecology
  • Community
  • Business

(Source Holmes [see reference 6])

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It is clear that buildings impact a range of societal factors in their construction and use. The area of green architecture is a growing industry and a larger subject to be covered in its entirety than can be included in this chapter. We will focus on certain aspects of green building.

Firstly we will look at designing environmental sustainable buildings by reducing their embodied energy in the materials used for construction, and designing for low energy use during their lifetime. Next we will examine how to reduce waste during the construction process. Finally we will explore the concept ofretrofittingexisting housing stock, that is making alterations to existing high energy use houses, and whether there is a limit to how much you can do before it becomes more feasible to knock it down and start again. Also included at the end of this section are case studies of examples of sustainable buildings.