Suatainable measures in construction plans

A report to sustainable retrofit options for Building 15 Harris Street Ultimo Sydney 622- 632 HARRIS STREET
Introduction
For sustainable future attainment within the construction sector, it is recommended that the sector adopt a multi- disciplinary strategy which takes into account numerous features including energy conservation, more efficient material utilization, emissions and pollution control, and minimization of material wastage. Construction works’ present nature may be improved and controlled by various means, with a view to making it more ecofriendly whilst not reducing construction activities’ useful output. For effectively attaining an edge over competition by employing ecofriendly construction practices, edifices’ entire life- cycle ought to form the context of performance of these practices (Akadiri et al. 2012). A literature review on the subject gleans the following three broad aims that ought to shape the basis for sustainable building planning and construction implementation;
1. Cost- effectiveness;
1. Resource conservation; and
1. Human adaptation- friendly design
Resource Conservation
This involves managing natural resources’ utilization by humanity for deriving maximum benefits from them for the present age whilst simultaneously ensuring capacity is maintained for meeting future needs. Building material waste minimization techniques and providing material reuse and recycling opportunities help improve resource utilization efficacy as well.
Energy Conservation
Energy utilization from the lifecycle standpoint encompasses embodied energy as well as that required for operations. A building’s operational energy may be defined as energy required for maintaining its internal environment. Edifices’ lifecycle analyses reveal that this form of energy makes up between 85 and 95 percent of overall energy utilization and the building’s carbon- dioxide emissions ascribed to occupancy come from heating, hot water utilization, cooling, and ventilation (Akadiri et al. 2012).
Energy may be conserved through adopting the following techniques;
1. Construction technique and material choice are crucial factors that contribute to decreasing a building’s energy utilization by means of decreased solar heat loss or gain, thereby decreasing AC loads. Selecting low embodied energy materials will facilitate reduction in energy utilized in material mining, production, processing, and transport.
1. Building envelope insulation forms the most salient energy saving technique owing to the fact that it has maximum effect on energy consumption. An effectively planned and adopted insulation may bring about a minimum 50% decrease in quantity of heat loss via the envelope (Akadiri et al. 2012).
1. Energy- saving deconstruction design and material recycling saves natural resources and reduces production- related energy utilization. Deconstruction designs include system disentanglement, mechanical, thermal or chemical methods for constituent separation, and reduced chemically disparate coatings, binders, or adhesives (Ma et al. 2012).
1. Intensive low- energy transport designs decrease emissions which lead to pollution through impacting quantity of fuel utilized. Low energy house designs ought to be used in combination with urban designs which facilitate bicycle and public transport utilization.
1. Development of energy- saving technologies for building construction, maintenance and fit- out: A genuinely integrated energy- saving approach when it comes to construction processes would require project team encouragement and efforts from the outset, for achieving target levels of energy utilization.
1. Passive energy design utilization, including natural ventilation, building orientation, landscaping through vegetation, water body utilization for cooling and evaporation, among other things, may help attain internal visual and thermal comfort whilst ensuring a significant decline in energy utilization through artificial lighting and traditional air conditioning within a building.
Materials Conservation
Natural resource mining and utilization in the form of construction materials or raw materials used to manufacture construction materials, besides manufacture of construction materials to implement building works directly affect natural biodiversity on account of natural ecosystem fragmentation by building activities.
1. Waste minimization designing. The building sector is a key generator of wastes that result in a number of environmental, economic and social issues. Waste reduction and prevention within the building construction domain has the potential to save substantial quantities of precious non- renewable resources.
1. Specifying resilient, long- lasting materials. Buildings may be made more sustainable through enhancing material durability. A system, material or constituent is deemed to be durable if its performance or service life is almost equivalent to the time needed for relevant environmental effect absorption by the surrounding ecosystem.
1. Specifying local and natural materials. The toxicity and embodied energy of natural materials is usually lower as compared to man- made ones. Use of natural materials in construction products increases product sustainability (Akadiri et al. 2012; Ma et al. 2012). Locally- sourced building material utilization may decrease environmental burdens and reduce transportation distances, thereby decreasing vehicle- generated air pollution.
1. Pollution prevention design. Pollution prevention techniques adopted in the course of production of construction materials and the building process itself may have substantial positive impacts on environmental sustainability.
1. Specifying less- toxic or entirely non- toxic materials. Such materials prove less harmful to building residents/ users and construction workers. Use of less- toxic or entirely non- toxic materials may help avoid health issues and reduce air scrubber need.
Water conservation
Frequently, the most- ignored building design plan elements are water conservation plans and technologies. Several strategies may help decrease quantity of water consumption in a building’s life cycle, including:
1. Use of water- efficient plumbing including ultra- low flow urinals and toilets, waterless urinals, low- flow showers, water- saving washing machines and dishwaters and sensored and low- flow sinks, for wastewater minimization.
1. Dual plumbing designs which utilize recycled water to flush toilets or using a grey water system which recovers non- potable water such as rainwater to irrigate sites.
1. Collecting and utilizing rainwater for irrigation purposes by installing gray water storage systems serves to substantially decrease the need for treated water consumption. Additionally, rainwater may be treated and utilized for drinking and other household purposes.
1. Employment of recirculating systems to facilitate centralized distribution of hot water; this promotes water conservation as water usually gets wasted when people wait for hot water faucets to start spouting hot water (Ma et al. 2012).
1. Design of low- demand landscaping by utilizing local, native plants serves to decrease water consumption as well, owing to the fact that such plants are adapted to local levels of rainwater and do not require additional water.
1. Pressure Reduction. As rate of flow of water is linked to water pressure, decrease in pressure may decrease maximum flow of water from a tap that operates from some fixed setting.
Land conservation
A zero expansion policy for extant urban areas may facilitate land conservation. One way of doing this is adaptive reutilization of extant edifices, thus eliminating new building requirement.
Cost effectiveness
The idea of sustainability within construction aims at decreasing financial costs and promoting maximum efficiency.
Initial cost/ Development cost/ Acquisition cost
This implies overall cost of building remodeling or new construction, encompassing building/ land acquisition cost, costs linked to materials compromising completed construction, cost of assembling, professional consultant fees, etc.
1. The building design ought to ensure optimal local material utilization. Generally, materials that are produced within local factories/ units are priced lower as compared to imported ones owing to absence of import duty and low transportation costs of local goods.
1. Cost- efficient building technology utilization: this includes cost- cutting through masonry stone utilization in the foundations of buildings rather than reinforced concrete, which works in case of bungalows and other low- rise edifices.
1. Opportunities may be identified for initial construction expense minimization, by utilizing standardized material and modular designs wherever compatible, and accompanied by superior- quality, context- appropriate, unique architecture (Jensen et al. 2013).
1. Utilization of readily accessible, widely available components, wherever suitable, for minimizing custom material stocks and replacement related costs.
1. Employment of reclaimed and recycled materials. Project expenses, on the whole, may be appreciably decreased via on- site excavation, building and demolition material reprocessing and reuse, and importing of recycled and recovered materials rather than using costlier primary material.
Cost in use
Also termed as operation or running cost, this cost is established based on decisions taken during briefing and later decisions (taken at the assembly and design stages). Building operation cost cutbacks may be achieved by considering the following:
1. Adopting suitable measures when designing major building elements for providing a spacious, dedicated area for routine cleaning, repairs and maintenance of chief HVAC system components and ensuring access points can be easily located and identified (Jensen et al. 2013).
1. Making sure requisite skills lie within available workers’ competence scope. Maintenance expenses may rise in case of lack of sufficient workers skilled at construction facilities maintenance.
1. Selecting materials necessitating minimum maintenance. Wherever possible, construction materials which need little maintenance (like painting, waterproofing, retreating, etc.) must be used.
1. Adoption of a suitable process, in the design phase, for safeguarding materials against destructive natural elements like the sun, wind, rain, and variations in temperature, and isolating key building systems or sections from being damaged by potential storms or floods.
1. Comprehensively meeting building operational requirements and offering easily understandable and usable systems of building control for operators and occupants, for ensuring efficient energy- saving component and technology operations.
Recovery cost
Recovery costs may be eliminated or reduced through:
1. Taking into account demolition ease and recycling potential at the design stage and incorporating these into the building development budget. This improves construction sector sustainability. In addition, recycling has the added benefits of saving precious resources which protect our natural ecosystems and generating jobs.
1. Significantly decreasing wastes and conserving energy linked to building and material production through adaptive reutilization of extant projects. Materials manufacture and building construction related embodied energy will end up wasted in the event of improper utilization of available resources.
1. In case an old edifice cannot be completely reused, building component/ material reuse can help minimize waste production (Pombo et al. 2016). Here, renovation and reuse of interior fixtures (e.g., doors, windows) and other individual components is recommended.
Design for Human Adaptation
A key goal of sustainable buildings is providing convenient, healthy settings for the performance of human activities. Buildings need to effectively accommodate activities they are constructed for. They need to offer adequate room volume, floor- space, amenities, shelter, and light for living, working, learning, processing, healing and so forth. The following design techniques ought to be taken into account for promoting and improving human adaptation:
Protecting health and comfort
Outlined below are a few methods vital to improving coexistence between buildings, their environment, and occupants.
1. Thermal comfort represents a central aspect of occupant productivity and satisfaction. Maintenance of thermal comfort within buildings and similar enclosures ought to be a key element taken into account by all building designers. Landscaping and building siting based on seasonal use and heat gain are other major elements to be considered.
1. Project planners and designers seldom focus on workspaces’ acoustical environments. Proper window, wall framing, material and wall insulation selection proves crucial to external noise reduction.
1. Day- lighting means designing of buildings to optimally utilize natural light. This has several advantages over artificial light and, hence, must be a key consideration (Pombo et al. 2016).
1. Natural ventilation involves replacement of air within a given space without relying on any mechanical means for the purpose of providing superior indoor quality.
1. Functionality of edifices ought to be planned for enabling hassle- free operation of activities the building has been intended for.
1. Lastly, building aesthetics need to be taken into account. Aesthetics play a part in providing psychological comfort to occupants within their housing or workplace setting. This can include pleasing architecture, wall art, visual interest, aquariums, fountains, plants and other natural elements.
Protecting physical resources
Planning for mitigating hazards involves the determination of how property damage and deaths may be eliminated or reduced. Measures for accomplishing this include:
1. Fire protection planning. The most salient building safety element is a systems approach which facilitates building designer analysis of building components and planning an overall fire safety system for the building. Such a plan will be optimal as regards it efficacy if passive fire safety measures are integrated into the building’s fabric. Recommended fire safety measures include insulated fire- resistant partitions, special fire- stopping in structural gaps with established fire protection properties and cavity barriers.
1. Resisting natural disasters. Hazard resistance techniques ought to be considered a key requirement of project design, akin to environmental considerations.
1. Prevention of crimes using architectural designs is now a globally- recognized, efficient and highly promising approach to crime opportunity reduction in buildings. Effectively securing edifice designs entails implementation of countermeasures for identifying, impeding, deterring, and responding adequately to human aggressors (Jensen et al. 2013). Access to building areas may be denied to everybody except intended users by using access controls in the form of physical design aspects like doors, gates, shrubs, and fences.
References
Akadiri, P.O., Chinyio, E.A. and Olomolaiye, P.O., 2012. Design of a sustainable building: A conceptual framework for implementing sustainability in the building sector. Buildings, 2(2), pp.126-152.
Jensen, P.A., Maslesa, E., Gohardani, N., Björk, F., Kanarachos, S. and Fokaides, P.A., 2013, June. Sustainability Evaluation of Retrofitting and Renovation of Buildings in Early Stages. In Proceedings of 7th nordic conference on construction economics and organisation (pp. 12-14).
Ma, Z., Cooper, P., Daly, D. and Ledo, L., 2012. Existing building retrofits: Methodology and state-of-the-art. Energy and buildings, 55, pp.889-902.
Pombo, O., Allacker, K., Rivela, B. and Neila, J., 2016. Sustainability assessment of energy saving measures: A multi-criteria approach for residential buildings retrofitting—A case study of the Spanish housing stock. Energy and Buildings, 116, pp.384-394.
Harvest of raw materials
Production of materials
Transportation
Energy input
Construction
Operation
Maintenance
Deconstruction/ demolition/ disposal
Recovery of useful products
Disposal of waste products
Energy input
Life of the building
Recycling
Reuse
Initial cost
Cost in use
Recovery cost
Strategies
Methods
Use locally sourced materials
Employ cost saving technology that can be managed locally
Utilize modular design and standardized components
Use less expensive building materials and reduce time required to assemble materials on site.
Use readily available materials
Use recycled and reclaimed materials
Design for regular cleaning, maintenance, and repair.
Ensure availability of skills required and labour supply.
Choose minimum-maintenance materials
Ensure service life requirements of materials and components
Protecting materials from destructive elements such as sun, temperature variations, rain or wind, or migration of moisture-laden air through defects in the envelope.
Provide easy to understand access control for occupants
Recycling potential and ease of demolition
Adaptive reuse of an existing project
Reusing building materials or components
Strategies
Protecting Human health and comfort
Protecting Physical Resources
Methods
Thermal comfort
Acoustic comfort
Daylighting
Natural ventilation
Functionality
Aesthetics
Design for Fire Protection
Resist Natural Hazards
Design for crime prevention
Resource conservation
Cost efficiency
Design for human adaptation
Strategies
Strategies
Energy conservation
Material conservation
Water conservation
Land conservation
Initial cost (Purchase cost)
Cost in use
Recovery cost
Protecting Human health and comfort
Protecting physical resources
Energy conservation
Material conservation
Design for human adaptation
Resource conservation
Methods
Selection of construction materials and methods
Insulating building envelope
Design for energy efficient deconstruction and recycling
Design for low energy intensive transportation 5
Developing energy efficient technological process 6. Use of passive energy design
Design for Waste
Specify durable material
Specify natural and local material
Design for Pollution prevention
Specify non-toxic material
Using water efficient plumbing fixtures
Design for dual plumbing
Collecting rain water
Employ re-circulating systems
Designing low-demand landscaping
Pressure reduction
Adaptive reuse of existing building
Locate construction project close to existing infrastructure
Development of non-arable lands for construction
Water conservation