The issue of sustainable construction was recently 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), and 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 was jointly chaired by Professor Trevor Mole from Salford University, president of AEEBC, and Gerard O’Sullivan, president of CEEC.

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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.

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 and outlined the application of CEEQUAL and BREEAM as assessment methods for measuring sustainability for civil engineering and building projects.

The seminar was well attended by Irish and overseas delegates with some 40 from over 12 European countries.

(CL/JM)