Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
operating costing and life-cycle costing. In fact, interest in whole-life costing has
vastly increased due to the recognition that first costs are a very small part of the
overall cost of buildings. Nevertheless, the growing interest in sustainable building
design can be attributed to the general recognition that there are direct economic
benefits from sustainable building: from real savings and by improving the finan-
cial performance of a building. Costs in the life cycle of a building depend on what
extent it can fulfil today's use requirements and those of the future. That follows the
society's expectations and matches the wider concept of sustainability. Furthermore,
clients and users are becoming more aware of how the cost of operation, servicing
and maintenance of a building plays a significant part in the overall economy, pos-
sibly exceeding the capital outlay within a few years of occupancy (Tsai
2011
).
The Smart-ECO vision sets demanding future standards for buildings and high-
lights a wide range of issues that need to be addressed over a building's lifetime.
The challenge is to design and implement buildings that balance aspects as diverse
as aesthetics, cost-effectiveness, accessibility, functionality, history, production,
safety, energy efficiency and reduced impact on the environment (Prowler
2012
).
These complex objectives should also be harmonised to address different
expectations (Hegger et al.
2008
): users and occupants expect unpolluted indoor
climate, good lighting and ventilation, view of the outside, flexible internal layouts
and low running costs; clients and investors expect dependable schedule of costs
for construction and operation of the building, and trouble-free use of their build-
ing; public authorities demand that buildings be safe and not to cause unnecessary
social costs and negative environmental impacts.
2.1.2 Life Cycle Approach to Design and Construction
Addressing sustainability in buildings leads to an expansion of the spatial and temporal
system boundaries. As a matter of fact, a building's long-term impacts on the environ-
ment are important if advances in building design are to be sustainable. Designers and
stakeholders must consider the impact on conditions “upstream” and “downstream”
of the building in what is commonly referred to as a cradle-to-grave approach. This
objective introduces specific tasks during the design and decision-making process.
An integrated approach to building design allows thinking holistically about a
project, considering the life cycle perspective at all levels and balancing the differ-
ent interests involved in the development, design, use and management of build-
ings. This concept is essential to the definition of a Smart-ECO building.
As a matter of fact, different stakeholders handle the different planning activi-
ties of a building's life cycle with disjointed, short-term and incomplete interac-
tion among them. Long-term sustainability suffers as a result, leading to increased
negative effects on the environment. Every action taken with respect to a building
generates impacts within the building, in the surrounding community and beyond.
These have real consequences on the well being of people, land, air and water,
plants and animals, and generations to come. These in turn have consequences on
the future of the building. In this sense, the inter-linkages between each stage of
