General views about the green, digital and resilient construction ecosystem
Our built environment is one of the main assets of the European economy. It evolves continuously around us, and we may now have the opportunity to transform it to meet the needs of society, to respond to known environmental challenges, and to lead our economy towards sustainability, decarbonisation, growth, and inclusiveness.
Whilst our decision-makers should steer this transition, the construction industry and its value-chain have a decisive role to play. Indeed, based on the future Transition Roadmap for construction that will be drafted in the coming months, we can deliver on the key priorities set by the European Union and so help achieve the target that lies at the heart of the EU 2050 strategy, reaching climate neutrality by 2050.
In its New Industrial Strategy, the European Commission has identified construction as one of the key sectors, now referred to as ecosystem, to “build a stronger Single Market for Europe’s recovery”. The Commission is now keen to discuss future actions with our sector and to collate recommendations to form our Transition Roadmap. Our guiding principles are to be found in the European Green Deal and such documents as the Renovation Wave and the new Circular Economy Action Plan.
There are numerous challenges to delivering a sustainable built environment. As far as regulation is concerned, construction products belong to the European Union area of competence, whilst national, regional and local authorities regulate buildings and construction works. Therefore, cohesion between these authorities is essential if we are to address and improve building performance. More so, the diverse nature of our local environmental and climatic conditions and availability of local resources means that we cannot deliver a single solution that fits all, we need to develop a variety of technical solutions that best responds to our local built environment. Lastly, clear targets and measurable indicators must be agreed upon as we debate and agree on such concepts sustainability, circular economy, climate neutrality, affordability, and decarbonisation.
Achieving EU Green Deal goals through sustainable built environment
Theoretically, sustainability may be defined for entire systems, their constituting parts alone cannot be sustainable as it is their interrelations that allows for an effective overall sustainable outcome. It must be clear that the same rule applies for construction, whatever the nature of the build, from homes, to hospitals, from bridges to dams. Indeed, local conditions, engineering, design, installation, operation, end-of-life phases, and many more characteristics all have specific impacts. Therefore, the built environment must be envisaged as a whole, with information collated from all phases and actors of the value-chain, work carried out in coordination, aiming at the same goals. This is where digital technologies may come in as supportive tools, ensuring efficient transfer of data and knowledge, improving performance. As all construction information should be available for built assets, an example of a digital solution would be building logbooks that would compile open data and improve long-term management.
It is essential that regulatory provisions and incentives are based on a scientifically accepted assessment methodology. In our industry, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) are trusted tools; instruments that have delivered product information throughout the value-chain for many years. The Construction Products Regulation (CPR) has proven to be the most adequate regulatory tool to provide product performance while guaranteeing a healthy internal market.
The construction industry is subject to a large number of regulations, directives, standards, and other initiatives. Regulatory and voluntary implementation must be compatible, and competence shared between Member States must be applied coherently, thereby preventing gaps and overlaps. A coherent and overarching European strategy may assist in the delivery of a sustainable built environment and, ultimately, help to achieve the aims of the Green Deal.
In summary, we believe that the key principles to establishing a sustainable built environment are:
- Defining clear targets that are validated at all levels of decision-making,
- Carrying out sustainability performance assessments at building level,
- Using Level(s) , the EU sustainable buildings framework, as the reference methodology,
- Improving the secondary materials market to enhance circularity in construction,
- Using digital technologies as support tool.
For the sake of clarity, this document is divided in chapters, each of them includes one initiative, but they cannot be considered as isolated elements because all are interconnected, as described in the text. Order is also not relevant:
- Green Deal
- Construction Products Regulation
- Environmental Product Declarations
- Level(s)
- Circular Economy
- Sustainable finance taxonomy
- Energy Performance of Buildings Directive
- Construction and Demolition Waste Package
- Renovation wave
- Building Emission Trade System
- Sustainable Products Initiative
- Waste Framework Directive
- Extended Producer Responsibility
- Building logbooks
- Digitalisation
Level(s) is a methodological European framework for the assessment and reporting of the sustainable performance of buildings across their whole lifecycle. Level(s) is not directly linked to any policy but it is used in the context of the Sustainable finance taxonomy and is expected to be the reference methodology in National regulations dealing with the sustainability of buildings, to be used in other regulations at European level and to become the basis for the future EC Green Public Procurement criteria for offices and schools.
The framework offers three levels of complexity for the assessment level 1 being a basic assessment and level 3 the most complex and detailed. In any of the levels, the methodology addresses sustainability in three areas:
- Resource use and environmental performance during a building’s lifecycle
- Health and comfort
- Cost, value, and risk
Every area is developed using macro objectives which are assessed using indicators. One of them is the Life cycle Global Warming Potential of the building which is calculated at the highest level using Global Warming Potential indicators from Environmental Product Declarations developed according to EN 15804+A2 and applying the rules in EN 15978. The framework could be more ambitious and request the assessment of the full list of indicators available in EPD, but for the moment it is only an optional assessment. Future revisions are expected to demand a complete assessment.
Level(s) is a scientific, harmonised and transparent methodology with the potential to mainstream sustainability building assessment
The specific indicator on use stage energy performance is connected to the implementation of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive in every country and at the highest levels consider construction quality and occupants behaviour.
Level(s) can be used by investors, owners and occupants as a decision-making tool to improve the total impact of the real state not only taking into consideration the environmental impact, including energy efficiency and water use, but also indoor air quality thermal comfort and cost.
The impact of this framework is shown by the support of the whole value chain, several Member States Regulators and stakeholders such as the World Green Building Council Europe and some Member State regulators who trust the harmonised approach to be the best way to mainstream building sustainability assessments. Manufacturers, architects and other stakeholder in the construction chain welcome this European Commission initiative and promote its use as a reference for the assessment of buildings in national regulations.
The potential of Level(s) could be unleashed by developing IT tools linking product specific EPD data provided by manufacturers instead of using sectoral data or third party data. This would also allow evaluating different solutions/combination of products at building level, thus identifying the optimal solution and preventing biased or false product to product comparisons.
A Renovation Wave for Europe – greening our buildings, creating jobs, improving lives COM (2020) 662 final
This initiative is not a legislative proposal. However, it gives clear indications of the willingness of the EC to move on issues like climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Green Deal.
The seven key principles listed by the EC can be summarised as follows:
- Energy-efficiency
- Affordability
- Decarbonisation and inclusion of renewables
- Lifecycle thinking and circularity
- High health and environmental standards, including air quality, water management, resilience, harmful substances and fire performance
- Green and digital transition
- Architecture “Bauhaus” initiative where again natural building materials are promoted
EPBD focuses on energy performance as part of the assessment of building sustainability according to European harmonised methodologies
Considering that building codes are not an EU competence, European expected actions are the following:
- Revise Energy Performance Certificates and Energy Performance of Buildings Directive.
- Expected funding linked to the Sustainable finance taxonomy.
- Coverage of whole life carbon emissions, next to operational energy performance.
- Promotion of Level(s) as reference methodology for the assessment of sustainability of buildings.
- Promote nature-based solutions, or biobased products.
- Set material recovery targets, reuse of waste and standardised sustainable industrial solutions in line with the Construction and Demolition Waste Protocol.
The strategy refers to the need for a uniform EU machine-readable data format in line with the approach of the industry on data templates and digitalisation but it needs to be directed in the right direction because it could result in the creation of huge European databases managed by European institutions, which may be far from the market interests.
In connection to regulations, the strategy refers to the Ecodesign Framework Directive and the Sustainable Product Initiative and to the Construction Products Regulation, in which sustainability criteria is expected to be implemented.
One of the innovative actions within the renovation wave is the EU Bauhaus platform because it addresses renovation under the perspective or architectural design and not only as a way to improve building performance.
A Renovation Wave for Europe – greening our buildings, creating jobs, improving lives COM (2020) 662 final
This initiative is not a legislative proposal. However, it gives clear indications of the willingness of the EC to move on issues like climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Green Deal.
The seven key principles listed by the EC can be summarised as follows:
- Energy-efficiency
- Affordability
- Decarbonisation and inclusion of renewables
- Lifecycle thinking and circularity
- High health and environmental standards, including air quality, water management, resilience, harmful substances and fire performance
- Green and digital transition
- Architecture “Bauhaus” initiative where again natural building materials are promoted
EPBD focuses on energy performance as part of the assessment of building sustainability according to European harmonised methodologies
Considering that building codes are not an EU competence, European expected actions are the following:
- Revise Energy Performance Certificates and Energy Performance of Buildings Directive.
- Expected funding linked to the Sustainable finance taxonomy.
- Coverage of whole life carbon emissions, next to operational energy performance.
- Promotion of Level(s) as reference methodology for the assessment of sustainability of buildings.
- Promote nature-based solutions, or biobased products.
- Set material recovery targets, reuse of waste and standardised sustainable industrial solutions in line with the Construction and Demolition Waste Protocol.
The strategy refers to the need for a uniform EU machine-readable data format in line with the approach of the industry on data templates and digitalisation but it needs to be directed in the right direction because it could result in the creation of huge European databases managed by European institutions, which may be far from the market interests.
In connection to regulations, the strategy refers to the Ecodesign Framework Directive and the Sustainable Product Initiative and to the Construction Products Regulation, in which sustainability criteria is expected to be implemented.
One of the innovative actions within the renovation wave is the EU Bauhaus platform because it addresses renovation under the perspective or architectural design and not only as a way to improve building performance.
Construction value chain, on the contrary to other industrial business, is flexible and project specific with disperse decision-making: architect, contractor, commissioner, etc. The role of manufacturers is limited and subject to decisions at a later stage. In fact, the “product” in construction is the building. In any case, these principles are not applicable to all construction products. When the decision-making is short and manufacturers are closer to final users, EPR may present advantages to other approaches.
While EPR is aligned to circular economy principles, it will not work for most material flows in construction for various technical reasons:
- Demand and offer of secondary raw materials is disconnected and may involve additional environmental impacts
- Open loops are very common in construction and present additional challenges to the design of the EPR policy instruments
- Design, installation, geographical area and other conditions influence the life span of construction products and are unknown by the manufacturer
- Environmental impact of transport may be neglected in some policy options such as take-back.
The previous list is not exhaustive but reflects how EPR potential to change construction industry towards a more circular approach is limited.
Limit EPR to certain products does not mean reducing the efforts of the industry on this field. Information used to define EPR policies are available in Environmental Product Declarations but instead of being used simplifying the approach to transfer a theoretical burden to the manufacturer, allows the detailed calculation of the environmental performance of the construction. Decision-making based on this second approach is much more reliable, efficient and less likely to distort the market towards solutions which may not be the best.
Limiting EPR to certain products does not mean reducing the efforts of the industry in this field. Information used to define EPR policies are available in Environmental Product Declarations but instead of simplifying the approach to transfer a theoretical burden to the manufacturer. EPD allow the detailed calculation of the environmental performance of the construction. Decision-making based on this second approach is much more reliable, efficient and less likely to distort the market towards solutions which may not be suitable.
For those products for which EPR may be appropriate, it should follow a harmonised system applicable in the different Member States in coherence with European statutes on products and goods trade. This approach will guarantee a well-functioning single market for construction products across the European Union. Having different schemes in Member States will require considerable adjustments from manufacturers to specific markets and will cause significant additional costs and disruption.
Considerations should include:
- Alignment with regard to rules and guidelines for setting up EPR schemes at national and European level.
- Assuring fair competition within Europe for products manufactured in and outside EU within the framework of the circular economy.
- Increased enforcement and market surveillance to ensure a level playing field across Europe.
- Eco-modulation fees based on criteria rewarding innovation in design for improving the circularity of products, based on harmonized definitions and quality criteria across Europe. This could include uptake of recycled content, design for disassembly and recycling, availability of collection systems and recycling technology.