Environmental Certificates LEED and BREEAM. For a more sustainable life

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1 Environmental Certificates LEED and BREEAM For a more sustainable life

2 2 1 Introduction Environmental certificates A sustainable project must take into account the long-term effects of the actions taken today, whilst incorporating the principles of environmental management and resource conservation to ensure that we have efficient, high-quality buildings, with optimal and reasonable costs. Given the implications of population growth forecasts and the need to responsibly adapt cities to the needs of their citizens, the people responsible for urban planning and building designs have to overcome the challenge of creating urban environments that can achieve this balance. Sustainable development means covering our present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to satisfy their own needs. This necessitates a system of measurement that quantifies the environmental impact of a building throughout its life cycle. In other words, we need to evaluate the sustainability of a building from an objective, comparable and commonly recognised perspective. Over the years, several different certification systems have been developed to address this need and measure and quantify the environmental impact of building throughout their life cycles. Some of the most well known ones are BREEAM (United Kingdom), LEED (US), VERDE (Spain), HQE (France), Casbee (Japan), Green Star (Australia), etc. The main purpose of these systems is to officially certify the commitment of their members to sustainable development and care for the environment and how that commitment is realised in their projects. Pladur Introduction

3 3 2 LEED and BREEAM Guaranteeing efficiency LEED and BREEAM are the two certification systems that are most widely used in Spain to evaluate the sustainability of projects and buildings, based on the different environmental categories. They evaluate the environmental efficiency relative to the life cycle of the buildings and define the standard of what constitutes a sustainable building in terms of design, construction and operation. Both certification systems are used to evaluate new and existing buildings, as well as all the different construction types. The system quantifies these aspects with standardised credits that are awarded in each of the main categories (1 credit=1 point). Pladur LEED and BREEAM

4 4 LEED Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED ) is an international standard and evaluation system developed by the US Green Building Council in the late 1990s in the United States to promote the development of buildings based on sustainable and high-efficiency criteria. They evaluate the environmental efficiency of buildings based on 6 main categories: Sustainable sites Materials and resources Water efficiency Indoor environmental quality Energy and atmosphere Innovation in design The final evaluation is prepared based on the 100 basic points (credits) + 10 extra credits: LEED Certificate: points LEED silver: points LEED gold: points LEED platinum: > 80 points Pladur LEED and BREEAM

5 5 BREEAM Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM ) is a sustainability evaluation system for construction projects developed by the BRE (Building Research Establishment) in the early 90s in the United Kingdom, based on a series of standardised credits distributed in 9 main categories: Management Health and wellbeing Energy Transport Materials Waste Innovation Land use and ecology Pollution The final evaluation is based on the following point system: Unclassified: < 30 points Pass: > 30 points Good: > 45 points Very good: > 55 points Excellent: > 70 points Outstanding: > 85 points Pladur LEED and BREEAM

6 6 3 How does using Pladur contribute to obtaining these certificates? LEED certification CATEGORY ASPECT CODE OBJECTIVE CONTRIBUTION POSSIBLE POINTS Materials and resources Recycled contents Regional materials MR4 MR5 Incorporating materials with recycled contents reducing the impact on extraction and production of raw materials. Increasing the use of products in the building that are extracted and produced in the region, thereby reducing transport impact. Pladur products contain a high percentage of pre and post consumption recycled materials. All Pladur laminated plasterboard system products are manufactured in Spain, within an admissible radius Indoor air quality Low-emission materials CAI 4.1 Finishing materials that contribute to improving indoor air quality and do not contain VOCs. All Pladur plasterboards have the maximum A+ classification for finishing materials used in construction as per the environmental regulations, as they rated beneath the minimum level established for VOC emissions 1 Thermal comfort CAI 6.2 Providing high comfort levels in liveable spaces. The building envelope and Pladur partitions provide thermal insulation as per the Energy Savings Basic Document (DB HE) of the Technical Construction Code (CTE). 1 How does using Pladur contribute to obtaining these certificates?

7 7 BREEAM certification CATEGORY ASPECT CODE OBJECTIVE CONTRIBUTION POSSIBLE POINTS Health and welfare Interior air quality Improved acoustics and acoustic pollution SYB.8 SYB.22 Reducing risks to health, avoiding interior linings with high levels of volatile compounds Guaranteeing the provision of acoustic insulation to reduce the noise entering both from outdoors or indoor rooms from different users, as well as acoustic conditioning. The paint used in the range of Pladur FON + ceilings fulfils the regulations currently in force. Low contaminating content. Pladur systems for acoustic conditioning and insulation. 1 4 Energy Thermal envelope of the building ENE.19 Providing high comfort levels in liveable spaces. The envelope of the building and Pladur partitions provide thermal insulation, as per the Energy Savings Basic Document (DB HE) of the Technical Construction Code (CTE). 3 Materials Materials with low environmental impact MAT. 8 Fostering the use of construction materials with low environmental impact over the building s life cycle. The systems have the corresponding that fulfil standards UNE ISO 14001:2004 and ISO 9001:2008, as well as the Product Environmental Declarations (DAPs) for boards and compounds. 5 How does using Pladur contribute to obtaining these certificates?

8 CUSTOMER SERVICE Central Offices and Factory in Valdemoro-Madrid. Plasterboards, Profiles and Compounds. Edition 1. November Pladur Makes it a reality