RIAI seminar on Sustainable Architecture

has this gone too far?????

“you need to be aware of the impact on building budget that
these new regulations may have on any buildings currently in design or
feasibility stage. The estimate given to me was 2-3% on dwellings, and 10%
extra over on other buildings. Our whole thinkinbg towards the design of
the building will need to be radically different, and it will be important
that our whole team is informed of these regulations before the design
process starts. The changes will affect all disciplines – Architecture,
Structural, Civil, M&E and of course QS. You may wish to consider this
particularly in respect of the appointment of your M&E Consultant -they will
start playing a far more critical role at the design stage.

Items which will have the largest impact on design are:

– Move away from Steel frame construction (ideally towards timber – up to 7
stories being constructed in Scotland!. Second choice concrete with a
natural aggregate)
– Avoidance of all metal products esp. aluminium
– Avoidance of all plastics (dpm’s, pvc windows etc) Building envelope to
be breathable
– Radical increase in the use of timber (both primary and secondary
elements)
– No preservatives on timber: we will need to detail properly to allow for
proper ventilation (as per 100 years ago – get out your Mitchells!)
– No chemically produced insulation (wool, flax, cellulose instead)
– No Air-conditioning : increase the use of natural ventilation and
lighting – this will affect the depth of buildings
– Generally source local products – one of the biggest factors in the
embodied energy in a product is the transport (esp. road transport) of the
product
– Dispose of storm water and foul water on site (using french drains)
– Consider all products in terms of their full life cycle – manufacture,
transport, construction, de-construction and disposal

In short, imagine we are going backwards 200 years, and pretend the
Industrial Revolution never happened ! I must admit it all seemed rather
academic and naive to me, and I daresay the regulations when they come in
will need to be a slightly watered down version of all this. The steel
industry will probably kick and fight against this. But countries like
Germany and Sweden are already complying with the requirements, so it may
well become an EU Directive.”