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The issue of sustainable construction was reviewed from various European perspectives at a seminar in Dublin held jointly by the AEEBC (European Association of Building Surveyors and Technical Architects) and CEEC (European Council of Construction Economists), hosted by the Society of Chartered Surveyors (SCS), Ireland’s largest construction and property industry body.
Attended by chartered surveyor members of the SCS and members of both the ABE and CIOB, the seminar entitled: ‘Sustainability in Construction – European Perspective’ was jointly chaired by Professor Trevor Mole from Salford University, president of AEEBC and Gerard O’Sullivan, president of CEEC. Mr O’Sullivan, a chartered quantity surveyor with Mulcahy McDonagh & Partners, is a past chairman of the SCS Quantity Surveyors Division.
Architect Vivienne Brophy, deputy director of the Energy Group in the School of Architecture, UCD and an eminent expert on the issues, spoke on the ‘Irish approach’.
She gave a comprehensive overview of the preparation of Irish standards for measuring sustainability in construction and referred to the DEAP method of assessing compliance of residential buildings with the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive.
Also from Ireland was chartered engineer Aidan Burke of the Business Development Unit of the Irish Construction Industry Federation. With an address on ‘Sustainability in the Built Environment’, he spoke about the policy and approach the construction industry is taking to the issue of sustainability for civil engineering and building projects.
Speakers from Scandinavia included Arto Sari from Finland, a professor in construction economics from Helsinki University of Technology, and Jacob Rayn Thomsen from Denmark, International Director with the Danish Technical Architects Association.
Mr Sari discussed measuring techniques for whole life cycle costing in his presentation ‘Sustainable Construction Economics’, while Mr Thomsen gave an overview of 30 years of sustainable construction and design within the Danish industry in ‘The Danish Approach’.
The seminar was well attended by Irish and overseas delegates with some 40 from over 12 European countries.
(JM/SP)
