14 October 2008
The European Concrete Platform fully supports the theme of this year’s World Standards Day: Intelligent and sustainable buildings. Concrete has a major role to play in this regard due to its numerous attributes, including its high thermal comfort.
Concrete has a high thermal mass meaning that it is able to store and later release heat in winter and coolness in summer. This can: Reduce heating energy consumption by 2 – 15%, with a typical saving in North European climate conditions of 10% when comparing light and heavyweight buildings and Reduce energy use for cooling by up to 50%, when combined with natural ventilation.
Such savings provide significant energy reduction and other environmental and economic benefits over a building’s lifetime, a clear example of how concrete can contribute to society’s need for sustainable construction. Concrete’s excellent and proven fire resistance properties deliver protection of life, property and the environment in the case of fire. Its positive advantages in this regard include the fact that it does not burn, has a high resistance to fire, stops fire spreading and is an effective fire shield, providing safe means of escape for occupants and protection for fire-fighters and it is easy to repair after a fire, and so helps businesses recover sooner.
People need to rely on structures, which maintain their robustness during extreme events, such as flooding. The choice of building materials and finishes should maximise flood resilience by minimising damage and the time taken to refurbish. Masonry and concrete homes are flood resilient. They do not absorb water or require any finishes, such as plasterboard, to be stripped off.