Our commitment to sustainabilityToward sustainable buildings
A major shift from standard practices to « best practices »
Standard building practices, guided by short-term economic considerations, often demonstrate little regard for energy efficiency or the larger economic, environmental or social impacts of the built environment. Sustainable building attempts to break with these practices.
Early efforts to bring change to the building sector in the 1960s through the 1980s generally focused on single issues such as energy efficiency
and conservation of natural resources. Sustainable building now integrates a wide range of building design, construction, and operation and maintenance practices to provide healthier living and working environments and minimize environmental impacts. Crucial to the success of sustainable building has been the application of integrated design principles—a whole-building-systems approach, which brings together the key stakeholders and design professionals as a core team to work collaboratively from the early planning stages through to the building’s occupation.
“Best practices" emphasise
- Cost effectiveness and long term affordability
- Durability and strength
- Energy efficiency
- Climate change mitigation
- Conservation of water and other natural resources,
- Comfort (acoustical, visual, thermal…)
- Human productivity, safety and health
- Indoor air quality
- Reduction of outdoor air, water and ground pollution
- Aesthetics
...
A sustainable building is at least energy efficient, and is much more than a choice of "green"materials. The final design is a compromise of a number of different choices – there is no one single solution.