Sustainable Construction
The European Concrete Platform (ECP) welcomes this initiative aiming to promote environmentally friendly buildings. However, we question the decision to pursue such an aim via the Ecolabel Regulation (66/2010). The Ecolabel Regulation applies to “goods or services which are supplied for distribution, consumption or use on the Community market”, which clearly does not include complex structures such as buildings. The work being developed by the Joint Research Centre on office buildings is to be supported, but decoupling this work from the Ecolabel Regulation would allow for the development of criteria which are better suited to buildings, as opposed to products or services. Essential requirements for construction products are being addressed by the Construction Products Regulation (CPR) and its Basic Requirements for Construction Works.
Click here to view the full ECP position!
The Common Langauge is a joint project between the Architects Council of Europe (ACE) and the European Concrete Platform (ECP) with the aim of producing a toolkit refered to as a Common Language for Sustainable Construction. The purpose of this tool is to ensure a common understanding of the terminology used within the framework of sustainable construction. It is intended that the finalised version will be used by the construction sector, by policy-makers at national and European levels and for communications, educational and training purposes within the sectors directly concerned.
The European Economic and Social Committee has also become actively involved in the project by translating the glossary into all the official EU languages and publishing a book containg the English, French, German and Spanish versions. All other languages are also now available in PDF format
- Click here to download the publication in English, French, German and Spanish
- Click here to download the publication in English, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish
- Click here to download the publication in English, French, German and Dutch
- Click here to download the publication in English, Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian
- Click here to download the publication in English, Greek, Maltese and Slovenian
- Click here to download the publication in English, Danish, Finnish and Swedish
- Click here to download the publication in English, Czech, Polish and Slovak
- Click here to download the publication in English, Bulgarian, Hungarian and Romanian
Buildings account for around 40% of energy consumption in the European Union.
Increased awareness of the role of the built environment in maintaining the sensitive balance between man and nature has placed Sustainability at the heart of modern construction and design. A sustainable approach to construction brings lasting environmental, social and economic benefits to society.
Concrete has valuable inherent properties that can significantly contribute to the above-mentioned three pillars of sustainable construction for the benefit of people and society.