Sustainable Construction in Public and Private Works through IPP approach

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

BACKGROUND

The construction sector in Europe consumes more raw materials by weight than any other industrial sector in Europe. Moreover, the sector accounts for the largest share of greenhouse gases emissions (about 40%). Measured in terms of weight, construction and demolition activities produce Europe’s largest waste stream (between 40 and 50% of total waste streams), most of which, though, is recyclable. Sustainable construction is thus vital in the European context.

OBJECTIVES

The overall objective of SUSCON was to adopt a sustainable construction concept that could be applied by construction industries, engineering consulting companies, public authorities and suppliers of construction materials.

More specifically, the project aimed to:

Establish an advisory board composed of different stakeholders;

Carry out an environmental impact assessment of construction activities in Greece and Cyprus;

Implement a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) in, for example, public building construction;

Carry out an assessment of all the issues related to eco-design criteria;

Produce a software tool evaluating the eco-friendly percentage of construction works

Evaluate the environmental performance of participating companies;

Create an online database for the construction industry; and

Disseminate the project results to national and European stakeholders.

RESULTS

The project met its objectives. Several key actions were implemented that have significantly contributed to the adoption of a “sustainable construction” concept and that could be applied by construction industries, engineering consulting companies, public authorities and suppliers of construction materials. Specifically, the project achieved the following:

An advisory board composed of stakeholders has been established in each one of the two participating countries (Greece and Cyprus)

An environmental impact assessment of construction activities in Greece and Cyprus was completed

A Life Cycle Analysis was applied to two construction activities - an office building and a representative section of a road

A software tool for the evaluation of the eco-friendly design of construction projects was developed - the software was applied to four buildings located in Greece and Cyprus. Following on from this, the environmental performance of the two partner construction companies was evaluated

Relevant eco-design criteria have been established

An online database for the construction industry has been established – this features data, documents, legislation and links related to sustainable construction.

Demonstration value: This project is the first full-scale application of Integrated Product Policy and Sustainable construction in Greece and Cyprus. Furthermore, it developed a software tool for the evaluation of the environmental performance - including both environmental and energy efficiency aspects - of construction sites, adopting an IPP approach. This tool is useful for public authorities in these two countries (and is also transferable) to monitor, evaluate and promote environmental criteria in the construction industry. It is also useful for construction companies to monitor and evaluate their construction activities. Although several software tools are available for the evaluation of the environmental performance of construction works, the project's tool combines all the areas that are related to sustainable construction (i.e. land use, energy efficiency, material resources efficiency, water conservation, health and safety and economic performance), rather than focusing only on some of them.

Dissemination: Many and diverse dissemination activities were organised in both countries throughout the project life-time, with considerable coverage in the daily press. Three national competitions were organised in the two countries for sustainable construction projects, and awards were given to the winners. These competitions were organised in the context of Greek Business Awards for the Environment (2005-08). With the stimulus of this experience, the European Business Awards for the Environment invited the project partners to present their experiences with the competitions with a view to establishing a permanent sustainable construction award at a European level.

Further information on the project can be found in the project's layman report (see "Read more" section).