Application of "element"-Method in Sustainability Assessment

Abstract

The application of sustainability assessment in the design of buildings for the analysis, assessment and improvement of design variants is still a long way from becoming an everyday activity. Often, it is only carried out to respond to a special request from investors/building owners or in connection with funding programs. To date, sustainability assessment is often considered as an additional task detached from the rest of the design process and primarily serving sustainability certification. This raises the question of how the task of sustainability assessment can be integrated into the design process even better than before and combined with traditional design tasks. One approach is to use the "Element"-method. Relevant parts of the structure are described in terms of their physical composition and construction work to be performed for their production. It is an approach used in the determination of construction costs. The task of checking compliance with a given cost frame/budget already set in client's brief or at an early design stage comes with a continuous determination and assessment of construction costs along the different design stages. A similar approach can be followed for environmental impacts. The "Element"-method initially supports a combination of LCC and LCA- A n approach that is being followed already more frequently. The consideration of elements additionally supports the assessment of the ease of deconstruction and recycling friendliness as well as effects on and risks to health and the local environment. Experiences from Germany will be presented along with a discussion of current applications.