Is sustainable construction worth-wile?

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The participants of a discussion panel
The participants attentively listened to the speakers
On February 21, 2013, the conference on “Construction with low environmental harmfulness” was held in Warsaw. It was organized by RD bud.

The project “Partnership for sustainable construction” has been gathering the specialists and experts associated with green building service for 2010. This year's edition on “Construction with low environmental harmfulness” was held in Novotel Airport Hotel in Warsaw. It was a great opportunity for the participants to exchange opinions and experiences and also enabled to promote the cooperation of particular professional groups associated with the process of realization building investments.

The conference was divided into three parts: two of them consisted of the introducing presentations and discussion panels, while the last one was being held in a form of workshops. The even was hosted by Tomasz Zubilewicz.

The discussion was started by Dr Andrzej Kassenberg, The Chairman of Institute of Sustainable Development. He discussed the presentation “Low-emission Poland as a chance for the economy”, in which he pointed out that till 2050 it is highly probable to reduce the emission of CO2 to 55 per cent, however, with the massive effort, the level may be reduced even to 80 per cent. The next speaker was Marta Janowicz-Stradomska, a legal counsel and managing partner of the Law Firm CERTO. She discussed the presentation on “Chances and dangers for the of sustainable construction investment in accordance with the applicable law”, emphasizing that Polish law is much delayed in the case of sustainable construction. Dsc Michał Piasecki, the representative of Building Research Institute, Thermal Physics, Sanitary Systems and Environment Department, presented “The process of harmonizing the requirements for the for sustainable construction”. The last presentation in this part, held by Anna Żyła, Main Ecologist of Bank of Environmental Protection in Warsaw, concerned the issue of “Ecology in construction – present and future financing mechanisms”. She stressed that so far, fundings for sustainable construction have been applied mostly to thermo-modernization. Currently, it is crucial not only to improve, but also to build in a energy-efficient way.

The first part of the conference ended with the discussion panel on “Legislative framework and financial support for sustainable construction “. Its participants included: Marta Janowicz-Stradomska, Dsc Michał Piasecki, Anna Żyła, Associate Professor Andrzej Minasowicz, Dsc, President of Polish Association of Building Managers and Małgorzata Jędrzejowska-Popiołek, member of Board of Energy Conservation Foundation. After the very interesting discussion, followed by numerous questions, a break came and the participants had a chance to talk and drink some coffee.

The next part of the conference was started with the presentation of Jolanta Lessig, Marketing Communications Manager Europe, Architectural Glass in NSG Group, who commented upon “The role of glass in sustainable construction”. A big interest was also aroused by the next presentation, “Valuation of environmental footprints – necessity or trouble?”, held by Henryk Kwapisz, Market Outgrowth Manager of ISOVER company. He emphasized that many products advertised as 100 per cent ecological, are in fact not. The third speaker of this part of the conference was Mirosław Czarnik, The Chairman of Industrial Park of North Silesia. During his presentation, “Sustainable construction – not a trend, but the necessity”, he presented an office building from GPP Business Park complex that was commissioned at the end of August 2012. It was constructed with the use of modern tri-generation technology. The participants were mostly interested in costs and savings connected with the use of sustainable construction in a building. This part of the conference was finished by Tadeusz Pawlaczyk from Polish Institute of Passive Building and Renewable Energy, who talked over “EU's regulations concerning nearly zero energetic construction”.

During the discussion panel, the speakers discussed over “Investment in sustainable construction – investment in technological development of ecologically friendly building materials”. The participants of the discussion included: Henryk Kwapisz, Jolanta Lessig, Mirosław Czarnik, Tadeusz Pawlaczyk, Wiktor Piwkowski, Secretary General of Polish Association of Building Scientists and Technicians, Robert Rodzik, Director of Educational Service Selena S.A. and Jean-Luc Darras, Technical Director and Expert on Sustainable Development of RD bud. The panelists were debating what is the main factor that will lead to the high emission of CO2 in Poland till 2050. Naturally, their solutions varied, but the proposed issues included: education, transparency of regulations and obeying them, explaining norms, innovation and many others.

After the discussion, the participants went for lunch, during which they were commenting the opinions and conclusions that they heard before. They were also much anticipating the last part of the conference, which was going to have a form of the workshops.

When all participants gathered once again in a conference room, Jean-Luc Darras shortly introduced both subject matter and course of the workshops. He explained that they will be divided into groups, whose aim is to plan the organization of construction of one of four buildings. They have to take into consideration such factors as, influence on the environment, waste segregation, traffic routes, delivery zones and others.

The conference finished with the summation of the workshop part. According to the opinion of all the participants, it fulfilled its purpose and familiarized them with the process of a sustainable building construction. The event enabled to gain new knowledge, exchange the experiences and propose new, ambitious questions and assumptions connected with green building.


 


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