Sustainable Building Design

Chapter 7Materials

Jane Anderson¹, Michael Beavan², Francesca Galeazzi², Miles Keeping³, David Shiers⁴ and Kristian Steele²

¹Thinkstep, Sheffield, S1 2BJ, UK

²Arup Associates, London, W1T 4BQ, UK

³Hillbreak Ltd., Buckinghamshire, HP18 9TH, UK

⁴School of the Built Environment,, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, OX3 0BP, UK

In the United Kingdom, the construction materials sector consumes around 400 million tonnes of raw materials every year, meaning it is the country’s largest user of natural resources (UKGBC, 2016).

Choosing building components which, in their manufacture and use, consume fewer resources and are less polluting can, therefore, help to reduce the nation’s carbon footprint and enhance the overall environmental credentials of the building. Construction materials consume natural resources including minerals, fossil fuels for energy production, timber, oil-based products and water have major transport impacts and add to the waste burden as they are replaced and their production processes may release chemicals into the atmosphere including nitrogen oxide and sulphur dioxide.

Although it is generally accepted that the operational impacts of buildings still outweigh the embodied impacts arising from materials production and construction, as the operational performance of property steadily improves, this ratio will come down, thus making the selection of environmentally responsible materials ever more important (CPA, 2012).

1. http://www.c-a-b.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Guide_understanding_the_embodied_impacts_of_construction_products.pdf ...