A house has diverse meanings for people. In terms of conceptual history, it has the same root as „skin“ and therefore does not only function as protection against the outside, but shows to some extent the character of its inhabitants – after skin and clothing, the house is our “third skin”. The house offers living and working space, while with cities man has started to shape the world and therefore the nature according to his ideas. The construction of cities and infrastructure influences the planet’s ecology to a great extent. From a global perspective, especially during the last decades more and more resources have been withdrawn from the earth for the construction of buildings and cities – resources which are finite and their shortage is reflected in rising prices. This results in serious environmental impacts. The global construction sector requires enormous amounts of material and energy as well as land, so its relevance for the sustainability debate will continue increasing.

The way we influence our environment by construction work will play a crucial role for the change towards a sustainable society in decades to come. This transition needs new living facilities which support sustainable ways of living.

The building industry as resource wasting machinery

A closer look at the global material flows reveals the immense resource use in the global construction sector: About 50 % of worldwide used raw materials are consumed by the construction sector. Regarding mineral raw materials, the percentage even amounts to 80 %. A similar picture appears if we take a look at energy use: The construction sector accounts for 40 % of the energy consumption in the European Union, accompanied by environmental effects such as CO2 emissions. These consequences are further increased by other effects of construction, like soil sealing (building on fertile land): Each year 3 % of the available land are covered.

At the end of their life cycle, buildings are destructed. Demolition waste is responsible for 50 % of total global waste. Other issues concerning real estate business like subsequent land use or vacancies show the potential for improvement in the provision of living and working space.

Hence, the current form of architecture and construction does not necessarily lead to the quality of life expected. In order to achieve that, the building sector has to consider the three pillars of sustainability – the environmental, social and economic part. Participation of stakeholders in all phases of project planning and implementation is one successful way to sustainability. By doing this, the building industry can fulfill the needs of the present users and achieve a positive impact for future generations through optimized resource and land use so that resilient societies arise which can cope with the changes in their environment (e.g. climate change).

Now we will take a closer look at the three dimensions of sustainable construction:

The ecological dimension

For reducing today’s immense resource consumption we need to use our existent resources more efficiently, i.e.: an increase of the resource productivity by factor X (generation of quality of life at a significantly lower resource input and lower pollution level through increasing energy and resource efficiency) over the whole lifecycle, in order to use resources sutainably. Likewise, life cycle assessments of building materials, building products, buildings, systems and infrastructure are important in order to estimate environmental impacts and to make evidence-based long-term decisions.

Intelligent energy management helps reducing excessive energy consumption: participatory planning processes which engage the future users, high energy efficiency classes of household appliances, and energy monitoring through smart metering for households and settlements. Already today, passive and active energy systems have been realized in best practice projects like Eurogate in Vienna or the Solar Valley in Dezhou, China.

But also sustainable product design, recycling, waste avoidance as well as increasing reparability of products can diminish resource use. The above-mentioned ecological evaluation of products facilitates the transition to products and raw materials with smaller ecological footprints.

Land use and the associated soil sealing can be reduced by controlling urban sprawl through special planning and by increasing the usage of existing settlements. This aspect includes a strong socio-cultural component, because urban sprawl is closely connected to the cultural preferences of people (ie., desire for an own house in the countryside). Well-conceived structural measures can contribute to community use of infrastructure and therefore influence environmental as well as social aspects of quality of life. Private transport can be seen in the same context. It can be reduced considerably by optimized concepts for public transport which are adjusted to human needs. Especially in this field, involving stakeholders in the planning process is essential.

The sociocultural dimension

In transdisciplinary planning processes there should be cooperation and participation between inhabitants, construction companies, architects, craftsmen and other interest groups. The result of these processes are living spaces in a symbiosis of living-, leisure- and working areas. Need-based and barrier-free living room with flexible possibilities of use and space for spontaneous, informal meetings will be created and lead to strengthened communities as well as cooperation. This also supports the integration of elderly and people with different cultural backgrounds. In scientific terms this is called increase in social capital which has a major impact on the subjective well-being of humans. Quality of life depends on healthy living – a living space where people feel physically, emotionally and mentally comfortable.

A paradigm shift is emerging in the area of products and services: The focus is moving from sale and consumption of products towards providing solutions which meet human needs. This process is accompanied by product, systemic and institutional innovations (like eco-labelling of products, community activities and public participation projects, car-sharing, etc.). It revitalizes neighbourhoods, enhances social integration and promotes a higher subjective sense of security.

Well-conceived infrastructural offers are needed as well in order to guarantee local supply, health and education infrastructure as well as social and cultural infrastructure for all social groups and at the same time reduce motorized transport and the associated use of land and resources.

The economic dimension

The mentioned view of the entire life cycle of buildings allows an extended profitability analysis in the sense of a comprehensive analysis of future costs to reflect the actual costs of a building. At the same time, the longevity as well as the flexible possibilities of usage lead to lower operational and maintenance costs. Resulting from this flexibility, buildings are used more efficiently.

A sustainable and holistic strategy in construction and urban planning, as we have shown above, implicates far-reaching economic consequences – jobs are created and secured, also in economically weaker regions. Migration to the cities will decrease while communities develop in a financially healthy way. The variety of lifestyles and landscapes will be preserved and supported.

High potentials for communities can be tapped by urban and construction planning which considers the three dimensions of sustainability. Efficient and responsible resource use, innovative product design and technology as well as social innovations (e.g. community construction and living) enforce mutually positive effects.

The society as a whole and thus the economy become more resilient in a world of accelerating change. This change is designed in a conscious way so that mankind and nature can coexist successfully.

SERI’s activities in “sustainable construction”

Participation in international think tanks

As one of four international experts, Fritz Hinterberger supervises the long-term process of a factor-X-business-park in Eschweiler bei Aachen/Germany. Last December, he contributed his expertise to the factor-X settlement competition Eschweiler and Inden. For these settlements, SERI examines the energy and resource uses of different ways of construction and living. Read more about this in German.

In march, Fritz Hinterberger gave an insight into sustainability in construction and real estate business as a key note speaker at the ImmobilienForumWest in Bregenz. His presentation and interview video can be downloaded here, more information in German here.

SERI’s project Eco-Innovation

SERI participates in the project Eco-Innovation-Observatory (EIO) which sets up an EU observatory for “eco-innovations”. This observatory will provide a comprehensive information source on eco-innovation in Europe for policy makers, innovation service providers as well as enterprises. The EIO thematic report “Resource-efficient construction” can be downloaded here.