This is the title of the Thematic lunch that will be held on 3rd December in Brussels, Belgium, organized by The Concrete Initiative.
The need to address the existing building stock is mainly driven by energy efficiency considerations.
Buildings alone are responsible in Europe for 40% of energy consumption, which makes it the single biggest potential sector for energy savings.
For this reason, both the Energy Performance of Buildings and the Energy Efficiency Directives set targets to buildings to achieve the 20-20-20 strategy, and the latter even sets a minimum amount of total floor area to be renovated yearly by central governments.
It is assessed that today 75% of the existing building stock in Europe is “energy inefficient”; as a consequence, part of this existing building stock needs a renovation to meet the present needs.
This can be necessary for achieving the energy efficient targets set by the owner or by policy makers. Buildings needing more than 300 kWh/m².year (labelled E, F or G) could be scaled up to less than 100 kWh/m².year (B or C, more rarely A).
As an alternative, a new building could replace an existing one and provide A-label performance, zero-energy and even positive energy.
But reasons other than the energy consumption may entail a renovation.
The changing or newly defined needs, the adaptation for accessibility, improving internal comfort, healthier environment and fire safety are examples of these motives. Some of them may be monetised like for energy consumption, other may only be assessed in a qualitative way.
In any case, the alternative options (minor or major renovation, rebuilding) should be considered, an analysis performed and the best option chosen.
This is particularly true for infrastructure, where other benefits (e.g. traffic reduction, emissions drop) take priority over energy considerations.
The negative image of demolition has been considered in the past as a barrier to the rebuilding option.
With the development of deconstruction and circular economy principles in the market, it is today possible to turn this into a positive perspective if smart planning allows the results of deconstruction to be fully reused for the same or other applications.
In most cases, it is easier to recycle materials coming from deconstruction than from refurbishment.
The aim of the thematic lunch is to explore drivers for achieving an energy efficient and sustainable building and infrastructure stock.
Introductory remarks will be made by Torben Liborius ,Dansk Byggeri, and Guus Mulder, TNO, both having been working extensively on the subject over the last few years. Starting from energy efficiency considerations, we will move to a more holistic approach bringing into the equation other aspects of sustainable construction.
Links