Low impact materials case studies and information papers BRE South West and the University of Bath (BRE Centre for Innovation) collaborated via a Knowledge Transfer Account (KTA) from July 2010 to June 2011 to make the pioneering research work carried out at the University of Bath on low impact materials available to the wider construction … Continue reading “BRE and University of Bath”
APRES – Case Study APRES is a network of industrial and academic partners that is developing an action programme for delivering responsible sourcing in the UK construction industry. The network will be a knowledge-sharing and dissemination focus of responsible sourcing practices. It will help to forge new research ideas and relationships, and provide guidance directly … Continue reading “APRES – Case Study”
Cement is a vital product for a country’s economic development, the basic ingredient required to build housing and infrastructure. Today, the world cement market represents more than 2 billion tonnes per year and demand for cement continues to increase, driven by economic and population growth and by the increase in urbanization, especially in emerging markets. … Continue reading “Innovating to reduce the carbon footprint of cement production”
A BRE project for Construction Resources and Waste Platform The waste and resources impact of construction is important in terms of profitability, non renewable resource depletion and the environmental impact of building. This report summarises the current status of construction resource efficiency, and proposes 10 key actions to reduce waste production and divert waste from … Continue reading “Project: Construction Resources and Waste Roadmap 2008”
Impact of materials on well-being in refurbishment The majority of us spend most of our working and leisure time in buildings but we do not give much thought to the way they might be affecting our health and well-being. The buildings we occupy can have both direct (e.g. physical illness caused by Volatile Organic Compounds) … Continue reading “Measuring the well-being benefits of interior material selections”
BeAware – Built Environment Action on Waste Awareness and Resource Efficiency A consortium of construction products manufacturers participated in a TSB and industry funded project called BeAware – Built Environment Action on Waste Awareness and Resource Efficiency. The project ran from November 2005 to July 2008. The construction industry accounts for over 150 million tonnes … Continue reading “BeAware – Research project to reduce waste and improve efficiency”
Challenges related to site-specific ground conditions have traditionally made a consistent and reliable measurement of the environmental performance of foundations and substructures difficult if not impossible. As a result foundations and substructures have tended not to feature in environmental impact assessments for whole buildings such as BREEAM. The new IMPACT methodology has changed this situation and presents the building designer with … Continue reading “The challenge of measuring and mitigating the environmental performance of foundations and substructures”
The context for environmental assessment in the construction sector is undergoing considerable change. This is largely due to the publicationof the long-awaited suite of standards from CEN TC 350, which interlink with those from International Standards Organisation (ISO) relating to life cycle assessment (LCA) and Type III environmental labelling. This paper, funded by the BRE Trust, is provided … Continue reading “Assessing the environmental impacts of construction – understanding European Standards and their implications”
The integration of Whole Life Costing (WLC) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) presents a powerful route to improving the sustainability of the construction industry. Combining economic and environmental assessment tools to obtain ‘best value’ solutions in both financial and environmental terms has the potential to make a significant contribution to achieving sustainable building design. WLC … Continue reading “Whole life costing and life-cycle assessment for sustainable building design”
Around 10% of UK emissions are associated with the manufacture and transport of construction materials, and the construction process; and refurbishment projects make up a significant percentage of activities in the built environment. The UK is committed to reducing carbon emissions by 80% by 2050; savings linked to refurbishment will have an important part to play in meeting this target. … Continue reading “Sustainable refurbishment – how to better understand, measure and reduce the embodied impacts”
