Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Living Within
Environmental Limits
Respecting the limits of the
planet's environment,
resources and biodiversity,
to improve our environment
and ensure that the natural
resources needed for life are
unimpaired and remain so for
future generations.
Ensuring a Strong, Healthy
& Just Society
Meeting the diverse needs of
all people in existing and
future communities,
promoting personal well-
being, social cohesion and
inclusion, and creating equal
opportunity for all.
Achieving a
Sustainable
Economy
Building a strong,
stable and
sustainable economy
which provides
prosperity and
opportunities for all,
and in which
environmental and
social costs fall on
those who impose
them (Polluter Pays),
and efficient resource
use is incentivised.
Using Sound
Science
Responsibly
Ensuring policy is
developed and
implemented on the
basis of strong
solentific evidence,
whilst taking into
account scientific
uncertainty (through
the Precautionary
Principle) as well as
public attitudes and
values.
Promoting Good
Governance
Actively promoting
effective, participative
systems of
governance in all
levels of society,
engaging people's
creativity, energy,
and diversity.
Figure 4.1
Shared UK Sustainable development Principles (Defra, 2005 © Crown copyright 2005)
reduce carbon emissions for both new and existing commercial
buildings and dwellings.
Low carbon buildings conjure up various images from mud huts
to intelligent buildings that sense daylight, people and overheat-
ing; however neither is possible without a client who is willing to
invest in the level of specification that is required. To create the
required differentiation to invest in sustainability, known values
of measurement can be used. It is attractive to a client to invest in
a building with a good life cycle cost, with a return on their invest-
ment and which can be labeled with a BREEAM Rating.
Following the introduction of the European Performance
Building Directive (EPBD) we can label our buildings and appli-
ances with an A* to F rating, with A* being energy efficient such
as a Code For Sustainable Homes Level 4 and an F rating being
inefficient and representative of our existing building stock. In
the UK, only 1% of the building stock will have been built to
these new standards, while the remaining building stock is pre-
dominantly E to F rated. The new Code level 4 and 6 homes and
BREEAM Outstanding buildings are not commonplace. Energy
efficiency and retrofit is the new important market.
New-build commercial developments that have been suc-
cessful at achieving carbon targets are exemplified by the
Adnams Distribution Centre, G. Park Blue Planet, Vulcan
House - UK Borders Agency, Manchester Civil Justice Centre
and the Mapungubwe National Park Interpretive Centre. On
the domestic scale, homes can achieve zero carbon which has
been seen with the zero energy development housing scheme at
Beddington known as 'BEDZED' and the Hockerton Housing
Project in Nottinghamshire.
For low carbon buildings to become mainstream we must
acknowledge that sustainability is a global commodity; there is a
market demand for sustainable solutions but clients are deterred
from making an investment when there is no qualitative differ-
entiation. What creates the qualitative differentiation is when the
targeted measurement system is used at the beginning and meas-
ured accurately to demonstrate a good financial investment. In
design terms, a typical naturally ventilated office costs £6/m
2
/yr
compared to an air conditioned office at £20/m
2
/yr (ENCON 19)
but the naturally ventilated office can only be achieved if designed
in that way. We need to build and develop contracts with these
targets in mind to create sustainable solutions today for tomor-
row. The following section introduces a variety of measurement
frameworks on which to hang sustainability, and identifies key
sustainability design factors for everyday design use.
4.3 Is sustainability measurable?
To function well in the modern marketplace an engineer needs
to be familiar with the wide variety of methods used to measure
and assess sustainability to deliver sustainable solutions. This
section starts with the key definitions of ecological footprints,
embodied carbon, operational energy and Key Performance
Indicators, and progresses to sustainability measurement
frameworks including BREEAM, LEED, Green Star and Code
for Sustainable Homes.
4.3.1
Ecological footprint
A term defined by William Rees and Mathis Wackernagel, an
ecological footprint is measured in hectares to calculate the
