The SUPERBUILDINGS project, co-founded by the EU, is a research project formed by a large european consortium aiming to develop a set of indicators and a benchmarking process in order to standardise assessments of building performance in terms of sustainability. The project is closed and was coordinated by the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. Research institutes from all over Europe were participating in the project (Institutes and Foundations from UK, France, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Czech Republic, Finland, Austria and Netherlands)
London Skyline. Picture from Paul White (Flickr)
Making buildings more sustainable is an excellent way to have high impact on challenges such as water, energy consumption and material waste. The European consortium joint under SUPERBUILDINGS project laid the groundwork for development of a standardised assessment system for sustainable buildings. Researchers focused on the development of assessment methods and indicators of environmental, social and economic performance as well as recommendations for the use of indicators in different stages of building process.
The SUPERBUILDINGS consortium focused on potential indicators for which assessment information is missing, that relate to methodological issues or that are completely lacking. Researchers chose 13 indicators, including those related to water and non-renewable energy consumption, waste generation, global warming potential, water pollution, air quality and land use. Researchers determined that local knowledge regarding typical performance values and sustainability indicators is already good among architects, designers and planning authorities. However, it is currently of minimal concern to bankers, insurance companies and community representatives.
SUPERBUILDINGS researchers studied the use of sustainability indicators throughout the building construction and use, from customer planning for sustainable buildings to design, implementation, use and maintenance. The project team made as well recommendations for the technical integration of indicators into Building Information Modelling (BIM). A relatively new modelling platform, BIM enables building professionals to explore a project digitally before beginning construction. Engineers and scientists of the SUPERBUILDINGS project concluded that sustainable buildings indicators are mature enough to be included in all life cycle phases of the buildings.
Another of the main objectives of the SUPERBUILDINGS project was to disseminate the results and recommendations for standardisation bodies, policy makers and construction professionals and encourage the development of sustainable buildings services. Further development and widespread use of the SUPERBUILDINGS sustainability assessment foundations and recommendations will prompt market movement towards a higher level of sustainability.