Page 34 - Climate Control News magazine April 2023

Building Services
Low carbon solutions
"In terms of the climate impacts of the built environment, the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy means that the influence of the actual construction phase in the building's life cycle emissions will increase. As a result, structural solutions and the material choices in construction will play an increasingly crucial role in reducing the climate impact of the con- struction phase in the future,” Ramo said.
Metsa Wood director of business develop- ment, Jussi Björman, said hybrid construction enables increasing the share of renewable mate- rial in multi-storey construction without com- promising building process efficiency or the performance of solutions.
“Metsä Wood's lightweight, material-efficient and carbon-storing Kerto LVL engineered wood product is well suited for hybrid construction applications. In cooperation with our partners, we have the best prerequisites for finding the most effective overall solutions,” he said.
Arkta Rakennus technical director, Marko Nikander, said by utilising their know how in concrete and wood they are ideally placed to develop a new hybrid construction system.
in construction
PRECAST CONCRETE ELEMENT MANUFACTURER CONSOLIS PARMA, HOUSE BUILDER ARKTA RAKENNUS AND METSÄ WOOD HAVE LAUNCHED A RESEARCH PROJECT INTO HYBRID CONSTRUCTION IN A BID TO FIND MORE LOW CARBON BUILDING OPTIONS.
THE AIM IS to develop a completely new kind of hybrid construction con- cept mainly for the needs of residential multi-storey construction.
Consolis Parma technology direc- tor, Juha Ramo, said the sustainable develop- ment of the construction industry focuses on energy and material efficiency, as well as low- carbon construction and the circular economy. “Radically cutting the climate impact is a common concern for the entire construction industry. In line with our strategy, we have put
climate issues at the centre of our development work, and our goal is to reduce our emissions by five per cent annually and halve them by 2035," Ramo said.
The aim of the cooperation between Parma, Arkta and Metsä is to create a material-efficient and low-emission hybrid construction concept. In this context, hybrid construction refers to combining the best features of wood and con- crete both in a building frame and façade solu- tions to make the building low-carbon, energy-saving, long-lasting and cost-effective.
LEFT: Inside the Metsa Group’s global headquarters.
BELOW: Consolis Parma technology director, Juha Ramo.
Research examines commercial retrofits
NEW RESEARCH INTO commercial retrofits will be released in coming months to support strategies on how to deliver carbon savings across the built environment.
The research is being undertaken by the UK Green Building Council, which has assembled a team of more than 30 industry experts to explore the effectiveness of common retrofit measures in commercial real estate.
Members of the task force include developers, investors and consultants, representing compa- nies such as Arcadis, Canary Wharf Group, CBRE, General Projects, Grosvenor, JLL and the Crown Estate.
The UKGBC said it would assess real world case studies to determine whether retrofit measures have been effective.
The task force will work to understand the carbon and cost effectiveness of these meas- ures and explore how to overcome common challenges that the industry faces.
Since commercial buildings account for nearly a quarter of the built environment’s carbon footprint, securing a net zero built environment in line with the Paris Agreement cannot be achieved without addressing the operational emissions associated with the sec- tor, UKGBC said.
ABOVE: Real world case studies will be assessed to determine whether retrofit measures have been effective.
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