The PRESCO Guidelines for Sustainable Buildings Ir. J. Desmyter, Ir. Arch. Katrien Putzeys and Ir. W. Adams Belgian Building Research Institute

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1 The PRESCO Guidelines for Sustainable Buildings Ir. J. Desmyter, Ir. Arch. Katrien Putzeys and Ir. W. Adams Belgian Building Research Institute Abstract PRESCO, the European Thematic Network on Practical Recommendations for Sustainable Construction, is already running for four years and started with a series of objectives. The project was built around two main work items: The first was the realisation of a set of PRESCO guidelines for sustainable construction; the other was defining recommendations leading to a more harmonized approach for environmental assessment tools for buildings. This paper only deals with the first work package. The work done in the second work package, on the environmental assessment tools, is presented in another paper (Inter-comparison and benchmarking of LCA-based environmental assessment and design tools). Guidelines for Sustainable Construction: Something new? At the time the PRESCO network was established, two European examples of recommendations for sustainable construction were identified. The first was the set of Dutch National Packages (residential buildings, building stock management and office buildings) [1]. Each package incorporates a set of practical recommendations, which have been discussed with and accepted by the different stakeholders of the Dutch construction industry. The Dutch government supported the initiative by giving financial advantages and/or tax benefits to those respecting a minimum number of recommendations. Another inspiring example was the BSRIA Environmental Code of Practice for Buildings and Their Services [2]. This Code, realised under the guidance of a project steering group drawn from industry representatives, provides a strategy to assist all stakeholders to minimize the environmental impact of buildings over the building s entire life cycle. The BSRIA Code was developed to assist clients, architects, project managers, building services engineers, and facilities staff to design, construct and maintain environmentally friendly buildings. Whereas the Dutch packages are stimulated to be used by the local government, the BSRIA Code serves as an aid, but remains completely in the voluntary atmosphere. The PRESCO partnership was convinced that other similar guiding documents on sustainable construction had been published in other countries. One of the first actions undertaken was therefore to identify and compile such documents, both in Europe and elsewhere. For most European countries, this process was realised with the help of the 28 PRESCO network members, representing 16 European countries. A problem with many of these interesting documents is that they are published in a local language only accessible to those who read and speak that particular language. To overcome this problem, network members were asked to propose a set of recommendations based upon the national experiences. For non-european documents, an extensive search revealed the existence of a series of interesting publications with regard to guidelines for sustainable or green construction. Most of these publications appeared either to be realized by government agencies or 1

2 local authorities or by so-called green publicists or (non-profit) organisations. The aim of most of these publications seems to be to stimulate authorities, builders or clients towards green or environmentally friendly architecture and construction. Whether these publications are supported by a broad basis of stakeholders or not, remains often an open question. However, it is clear that the guidelines published by government agencies or authorities may have an important impact on the local market, certainly if they serve for instance as a basis for green procurement. Just to illustrate the type of documents found, three are cited here: The Sustainable Building Technical Manual produced by Public Technology Inc. and the U.S. Green Building Council [3]. Its goal is quite similar to that of PRESCO, as it aims to provide clear, easily applicable guidelines and useful practices. The High Performance Building Guidelines of the City of New York [4] show how a city can try to integrate green building objectives into high performance design principles and into policy and technical strategies. The Santa Monica Green Building Design and Construction Guidelines [5] are interesting as this municipality distinguishes between recommended and required practices. This has of course an impact on the environmental performance of buildings. Through the Municipal Code ordinances, builders and building projects are forced to comply with these required practices. Besides these 3 examples from the United States, other interesting documents were found in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong. The PRESCO Approach: Towards a Common Ground The next step was to combine all the collected information into one package in order to start up discussions with the different stakeholders of the European construction industry. The aim of PRESCO was to come to widely accepted and scientifically supported guidance for the design, construction and operation of sustainable buildings. Whereas sustainable construction may now be considered as a mainstream principle everybody recognises that buildings should be energy efficient for instance it is far less clear how this objective should be realised in practice. The different societal groups, varying from industrial parties to non-profit (often called green ) organisations, often have completely opposite views on the sustainability of certain technical interventions or product choices. The aim of PRESCO was to define some kind of common ground by coming to a set of practical guidelines acceptable to all stakeholders. At the same time, PRESCO hoped to be able to go beyond what is already required by law or regulations. To realise these objectives, PRESCO established a working procedure in which stakeholders were invited to participate, and this not only once, but at several points in time: At the moment the project was introduced for financial support at DG Research, a series of organisations representing the range of stakeholders were invited to participate in the project. A well-balanced partnership of 28 members from 16 European countries was established this way. In the work program, it was provided to inform organisations and construction professionals about PRESCO and its objectives through different communication and dissemination channels. The PRESCO newsletter, 7 issues have been published actually, has played a key role in this regard. The newsletter is distributed to almost 4000 European contacts. 2

3 PRESCO organised two workshops, one open and one limited to a range of experts. The first one was organized in 2002 together with another European network, i.e. the CRISP network, and took place in Ostend, Belgium. The second expert workshop was held at the BRE premises in October The PRESCO members organised local workshops or meetings in which they presented and discussed the set of guidelines. Finally, users or readers of the PRESCO guidelines will be invited to give their views and comments. If required, a new final version or a corrigendum will be published within the year. Although the PRESCO project is reaching its end, the work is certainly not finished. After all, sustainable construction is a complex process involving a range of actors, products and techniques. Being complete was therefore never the issue; the goal was to define a set of 200 to 250 practical recommendations. The PRESCO set of guidelines must be considered as general principles, which need further detailing at the local or national scale. Indeed, each country or region is confronted with other circumstances, for instance climatic or with regard to natural resources. The general principles should however be acceptable for all. Finally, as scientific knowledge increases and societal opinions change, the PRESCO guidelines will become obsolete in the course of time. A continual updating will thus be necessary. The PRESCO approach may be inspiring; most builders do need objective, scientifically supported guidance. They are, however, confronted with coloured opinions, for instance from those who want to sell a product or approach, or from those who have strong, in most cases, negative opinions about particular products or techniques. A question which has to be raised in this context is whether such discussions are fruitful and useful towards the final objective of sustainable development. Instead of setting organisations or companies against each other by comparing products or interventions, more can probably be reached by stimulating all parties towards a more sustainable production method. This is particularly true in the construction world, where each building project is unique in its design and its combination of products, techniques and appliances. Comparing the environmental performance of building elements without considering the overall environmental performance of the building doesn t seem to be a sensible approach. This explains why the second main objective of PRESCO was to contribute to the development of environmental assessment tools and methodologies on the level of the building project. The PRESCO Guidelines: More than the Environment. Most of the guidelines developed worldwide consider in essence global and local environmental issues, such as energy use, waste, natural resources use, global warming, etc. Indoor environmental quality and comfort are also covered in most of these publications. However, sustainability incorporates more than environmental issues; it also looks for social and economic progress. PRESCO therefore not only had environmental objectives, but also tried to deal with the other elements of sustainability. First of all, it devoted attention to the economic costs of each of the guidelines. Whenever possible, information with regard to the life cycle costs of applying the guideline was included. The project showed however that a lot of information is currently 3

4 not yet available. LCC-methodologies are still under development; reliable data are hard to find. Experiences such as Green Building Challenge in which tools and methodologies are developed to assess the overall performance of a building (and not only the environmental loadings), show that it is currently difficult to cover all criteria. Another element covered by PRESCO and on the cross-line of all sustainability aspects, is cultural heritage. Historic buildings, both those which are protected because of their historic significance as the unprotected buildings determining the view of most of our cities, have proven to be durable. Assessing and improving the sustainability of such buildings, are however complex issues. Due to their aesthetics and cultural value, a building may be very valuable; improving its energetic performance may however be difficult. From an energetic and/or economic point of view, it could be sensible to demolish old dwellings or buildings, replacing them by new constructions. Demolishing results however in more waste, and has an important impact on the urban and social sustainability. Understanding the cultural and historical significance of a building and its surroundings is thus essential whenever decisions about renovation or demolition have to be taken. PRESCO also dealt with security, as it is a determinant factor for the urban sustainability. The feeling of security indoors and in the urban environment is an important element for the well being of people. To realise security, one can focus on protection against burglary and intruders and one can look for appropriate measures limiting the opportunity of committing offences. The organisation and management of the built environment thus has a direct impact on the security level. Finally, PRESCO worked on recommendations with regard to the accessibility of buildings. An accessible built environment is without doubt a key element of a society based on equal rights [5]. In practice, however, the European built environment is far from being barrier-free. Building an accessible environment is not only relevant for disabled, although this would be many people s firs reaction people. On the contrary, it is relevant for all members of our society. Indeed, accessibility results in comfort and safety for all, certainly when taking into account the increase of the ageing population, the group of parents with prams or the people who are temporarily disabled due to an accident. Realising an accessible or barrier free built environment is clearly a work of many years, and this not only because of the cost it may represent. Awareness with regard to accessibility and knowledge about barrier-free design are for instance not well spread. Many European countries have building regulations forcing public buildings to be accessible. However, most of the regulations only provide minimum standards of access and, probably even more important, regulatory control is often inadequate. Antidiscrimination legislation may in the near future improve this situation, but experiences in countries with such legislation illustrate that not all problems are resolved. Disabled people, and organisations representing them, may however be able to use them as legal and moral means of influence [6]. An important problem with regard to accessibility is the lack of uniform standards. In many countries guidance documents, and even building regulations, have been published. Comparing these documents and regulations immediately shows that the design rules are far from being uniform. Accessibility labels have also been developed in quite some countries, for instant with regard to tourist accommodation. A disabled 4

5 person travelling through Europe will immediately experience that the criteria vary between countries, and in some cases, even within the country. PRESCO clearly didn t aim to solve all these issues. Rather it wanted to contribute by raising awareness and providing some guiding principles. As such, it considers the concepts of adaptability, the principles of universal design (also known as design for all or inclusive design ) and the opportunities for innovative and more comfortable designs and buildings. Users of the PRESCO guidelines will find 10, mostly quite generally stated, recommendations on these subjects. More important, however, is the fact that the issue of accessibility is brought to a new, in general environmentally-oriented, public and this not only through the set of guidelines, but also through the different communication and dissemination channels of PRESCO. The PRESCO Scope: Focused on Buildings Sustainable construction is a term which encloses a whole range of issues. As defining the term leads most certainly to a never-ending discussion, the PRESCO network didn t lose itself in that discussion, but immediately started to develop a database structure and its content. However, it was necessary to define the scope of the project. Indeed, the built environment is composed of many elements, buildings only being one of them. The network focused from the start, i.e. the proposal stage, on the sustainability of the building and its immediate environment. Urban development and land use aspects were not dealt with, not because they were considered less important, but simply because of the need for focus. Moreover, at the proposal and contract negotiation phase, other research and working groups were already working on these issues. PRESCO linked each guideline with the relevant stages in the construction process, such as the pre-design, design, construction, use, maintenance and demolition stage. The aim was to enable a particle actor to select those guidelines which are really relevant for his specific activities. The PRESCO guidelines are therefore not oriented towards the environmental or sustainability performance of only one of the actors of the building process. Their activities or working process were only considered if they had a direct impact on the sustainable quality of the final product, i.e. the building. As such, contractors are for instance encouraged to prevent and manage waste or to employ environmental management policies at the construction site. Designers on the other hand are stimulated to improve the quality of their design by considering items such as adaptability, accessibility, environmental product declarations or environmental assessment tools and methodologies. Using the PRESCO Guidelines and System The PRESCO Guidelines will be published on paper in a book format, in a layout as illustrated in the following figure. As such, the contractual obligation with regard to the PRESCO project will be fulfilled. As the guidelines deal with a whole range of issues requiring all a different kind of expertise, the guidelines were written in an easy-tounderstand language to make them accessible to the broadest public possible. Besides a short description, a typical guideline contains more specific technical guidance and some information on the sustainability impact and the life cycle costs. Sources and 5

6 references are always mentioned allowing the user to find more specialized literature if required. Figure 1: Example of one of the PRESCO guidelines Since the information is readily available in a database, the network is evaluating if and how the guidelines can be distributed electronically. The current browser, which was originally developed for internal purposes, should however be redefined in order to make it fit for distribution. At least 2 options will be added to the browser. First of all, an output module that formats the print-out in the PRESCO style will be written. Secondly, an option will be added which allows the user to add notes and/or features. This way, users will be able to add information that is particularly relevant for their country or situation. A view of the current version of the browser is given in the figure below. 6

7 Figure 2: Current version of the browser for the PRESCO guidelines Not only may the guidelines themselves be of interest, also the browser system may prove to be useful. For many countries the fact that the PRESCO Guidelines are only available in English, limits the potential use. However, the PRESCO members or any other organisation may use (and/or upgrade) the system to develop a local version of the PRESCO guidelines 1. Local refers in fact not only to language, but also to the local particularities. As such, the recommendations or guidelines could be translated to the local level, by adding information about local regulations and examples, by proposing target figures, etc. If the local context allows it, it is even possible to add recommendations valid for the local situation. Interested to note is that the PRESCO guidelines could even be used as a basis for policy making, by stimulating people or organizations to respect a minimum number of guidelines by giving them financial or fiscal support. Conclusion It is hoped that the PRESCO approach, guidelines and software system will be used, updated, upgraded and translated to the local level. One of the objectives of the project was to define a set of basic principles for sustainable construction. The result is a set of more than 200 guidelines. Applying all the guidelines in a single building project is not realistic, nor is it the objective. However, by respecting a number of them one will certainly come to a more sustainable and comfortable building. 1 The PRESCO Technological Implementation Plan includes issues such as the intellectual property rights, and serves as the basis for defining the licensing fees. 7

8 Stakeholders have been given at several occasions the opportunity to express their views on the different guidelines. Indeed, the aim was to come to a balanced and scientifically supported set of guidelines, acceptable to all parties active in the building world. The purpose was not to put a particular party or product in a negative light. Rather, PRESCO aimed to stimulate all stakeholders in the sustainable direction. As such, the network believes its final result can indeed form a kind of European common ground. Finally, the PRESCO project was interesting to all its members. Indeed, most of the members are specialized in particular areas, such as materials sciences, design, energy use, ventilation, recycling, accessibility, etc. Through PRESCO, members were given the opportunity to place their daily activities in a broader perspective. Experts became generalists in a way. Acknowledgements The PRESCO project was supported by DG Research within the EESD thematic program of the 5 th Framework Program, more in particular in the context of the key action City of Tomorrow. More information about PRESCO and its membership can be found at References 1. Duurzaam Bouwen: Nationaal Pakket Woningbouw Nieuwbouw, Stichting Bouwresearch, Rotterdam, NL, 1998, since then regularly updated. 2. Environmental Code of Practice for Buildings and Their Services, Code of Practice COP 6/99, 2nd Edition, BSRIA, Bracknell, UK, Sustainable Building Technical Manual, Green Building Design, Construction and Operations, Public Technology Inc. and US Green Building Council, US, High Performance Building Guidelines, Departement of Design and Construction, City of New York, Santa Monica Green Building Design and Construction Guidelines, Santa Monica Green Building Program, US, Technical Assistance Manual 2003, European Concept for Accessibility, EuCAN, Luxemburg, R. Imrie and P. Hall, Inclusive Design: Designing and Developing Accessible Environments, Spon Press, London, UK,