KEY changes in public policy are needed to enable architects to design "greener" buildings, says Mr David Keane, president of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland.
He was speaking at yesterday's launch of Europe's first manual on how to design more environment friendly buildings. The manual, Sustainable Building in Ireland, was produced jointly by the RIAI, the Office of Public Works and UCD's Energy Research Group.
Mr Keane said a design team seeking to pursue sustainable strategies might find better results could be obtained by diverging from the statutory building regulations. However, in the event of non-compliance, the burden of proof would fall on the designers.
"In reality then, until sustainable methods and strategies are integrated into official Irish publications, the architect wishing to design in a more sustainable manner may be more exposed legally he warned.
Yet he noted, half of the worlds carbon dioxide emissions are caused by buildings. "In addition, the actual process of constructing buildings and the process through which building materials are manufactured also have significant pollutant effects.
"Clearly, if we are to significantly reduce the environmental, economic and social damage caused by pollution, then we must adopt greener ways of designing, constructing and servicing our buildings," he said, adding that this could be done by taking quite simple steps.
"Taking a conventional building constructed to comply with the current building regulations, it should be possible to achieve a 20 per cent improvement in sustainability with a modest additional design input and little or no extra cost to the client.
"More sheltered siting for houses would significantly reduce their heating requirements. Other simple devices which would ensure lower energy consumption would be to see that buildings do not have large north facing windows and, of course, that adequate insulation is installed."
However, he suggested that advancing another 30 per cent in sustainability is likely to involve considerable design time and increases in capital costs, while achieving a 70 per cent improvement "would take the project into the realms of research and development".
Copies of the manual are available from the RIAI, 8 Merrion Square, Dublin 2, priced £20.
