Article: Dienas Bizness (Real Estate), Māris Ķirsons
The construction of buildings and their operation will increasingly be subject to requirements to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which may change both the range of building materials used so far and the technologies used in construction.
Such conclusions were made during the discussions at the Sustainable Construction Conference. It was pointed out that significant reforms are planned at the European Union level to mitigate climate change, which have already affected and will increasingly affect not only companies, their production technologies and even the delivery distance of manufactured products, but also citizens in the coming years. Also in construction and, consequently, in the production of building materials, there will be more and more questions related to the amount of CO2 emissions not only in the production phase of building materials and their transportation, but also to the emissions generated during the construction of a particular building, their calculation methods, accounting and CO2 emissions of the constructed object throughout its entire life cycle. Changes are inevitable, the only question is how quickly or slowly and with what solutions they will be implemented in Latvia and how much it will cost.
THE STARTING GUN HAS ALREADY BEEN
“Currently, only a kind of starting shot has been given for the beginning of changes, which are rooted in the requirements of regulatory enactments, but their impact on both construction projects and construction materials and construction technologies will be felt only after several years, but this time must be devoted to identifying possible changes and creating an adaptation system,” Armands Gūtmanis, Chairman of the Board of the Latvian Sustainability Cluster, described the overall situation.
He explains that statistical data show a very significant impact of buildings on the environment. Namely, buildings are responsible for approximately 40% of all energy consumed, buildings generate 36% of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions, 75% of all existing buildings in the EU are not energy efficient, while it is expected that 85-95% of current buildings in the EU will still be in operation in 2050. “The data speaks for itself, and it is not surprising that buildings will enter the emissions trading system in a few years and will be forced to buy CO2 quotas, which means that the costs of managing these energy-inefficient buildings will only increase,” says A. Gūtmanis.
He also emphasizes that the EU is increasingly faced with regulations requiring sustainability — the Construction Materials Regulation, the Rebalancing Regulation, the Energy Efficiency Directive, the Renewable Energy Directive, the Taxonomy Regulation, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, the Waste Directive, the Circular Economy Action Plan, etc. “At the moment, it is clear at the EU level that it will be necessary to say how much CO2 (in tonnes equivalent) can be per m2 of a new building,” says A. Gūtmanis.
He points out that such conditions also affect manufacturers of building materials. “This is also well demonstrated by foreign experience, for example, the Danish government agreed with the industry on the National Sustainable Construction Strategy and introduced new building construction thresholds, expressed in kilograms of CO2 per year for both buildings and the construction process, which they undertook to reduce by another 15-20% within five years,” says A. Gūtmanis. He admits that in Denmark the industry turned to the government to reduce these thresholds — how high CO2/m2 can be, which in turn means a scrupulous attitude of builders towards building materials, the CO2 generated in the process of their production and transportation. “If all those involved in the construction process are unable to fit into the relevant threshold value set for the building group, then most likely the suppliers of the relevant building material will be changed or even this building material will be replaced with another, for example, instead of reinforced concrete, glued wooden structures, etc.,” explained A. Gūtmanis.
He points out that Latvia has not yet come as far as Denmark in the context of sustainable construction. Interestingly, the northern neighbor – Estonia – is carrying out preparatory work to introduce sustainable construction parameters. In Latvia, the Ministry of Economics has currently developed a draft construction strategy, which touches on many aspects that are directly or indirectly related to sustainable construction.
ALL IN ONE LINK
Normunds Grīnbergs, president of the Latvian Builders Association and head of the Latvian Construction College, rhetorically asked how prepared clients, architects and builders are for sustainable construction. He points out that the level of competence of all those involved in the construction process in the context of sustainable construction is also not sufficient, which makes us look at the education system — colleges and universities.
“There are good examples, but they are more individual cases than everyday life,” N. Grīnbergs described the situation this way. He reminds us that there are already relatively old directives on this issue and new ones are being planned. In N. Grīnbergs’s opinion, the most important thing is competence, and everyone should increase it, at the same time, everyone involved in the construction process thinks that he is the main one, but in general, the primary thing is the competence of the customer, as well as the wishes (capabilities) and state requirements (policy).
EXPERIENCE HAS ALREADY BEEN GAINED
“In the context of sustainable construction, the company has already eaten a lot of salt, working in the UK, Denmark and Sweden, as a result of which the experience of the export market allows us to work successfully in this direction,” explains Kaspars Rožkalns, Chairman of the Board of the building construction company SIA UPB Nams. He admits that he has had to deal with a situation where architects and designers do not know how much a construction solution with a specific CO2 emission measurement actually costs.
Thus, a building materials manufacturer with a specific amount of CO2 emissions and a corresponding price is involved in construction, and the amount of CO2 emissions is also already counted throughout the life cycle of a particular building. “When creating a project, a designer cannot really say how much CO2 a particular structure will have, which depends on the components and the load they must withstand,” says K. Rožkalns. He points to another approach, when supposedly good solutions are provided for a building in order for it to meet certain requirements, specifically from a green perspective, but people do not really use them afterwards. “We work in export markets, so CO2 emission calculations are nothing new and unknown, and therefore industry entrepreneurs are ready for these challenges in Latvia as well,” says Kristaps Ceplis, executive director of the Latvian Wood Construction Cluster. In his opinion, the main problem is that we are more following the big goals set by Europe and Latvia lacks its own challenging goals. “In Latvia, we strive to implement the goals set by others, but we don’t really look at what would be beneficial for us in Latvia,” explained K. Ceplis.
In his opinion, Latvia, with its forest sector operating in foreign markets, has the competences and there are also appropriate wood resources, but we do not really use these advantages in the Latvian domestic market. “Perhaps, this would make it easier and more economically beneficial for Latvia to achieve the set European goals,” says K. Ceplis. In turn, Egija Smila, head of the Merko Ehitus group of companies in Latvia, pointed out that everyone is learning, which is why various calculations are being made that provide clarity on how much CO2 emissions are generated in each building’s life cycle. Everyone needs to sit at the same table together and understand what limit values a specific group of buildings must achieve, and then the industry professionals will know how to implement it.
“Sustainable construction is not an end in itself, but a tool to achieve the goal of climate neutrality, reduce the impact on the environment both during the construction phase and during the building’s operational life cycle, and at the same time build qualitatively, while ensuring that the building is visually attractive and the solutions implemented in it successfully meet the initial requirements,” comments Jeļena Gavrilova, member of the board of VAS Valsts Nekustamie īpašumi.
PUBLIC PROCUREMENT FACTOR
The participants in the discussion concluded that the driving force for sustainable construction should first come from public procurement. Eduards Filippovs, a representative of SIA Amber Cranes, emphasized that it is very easy to explain the lowest price, but it is quite another to explain what sustainable construction is. “Municipal officials have even admitted that they are trying not to apply for and not to use EU structural funds co-financing, which requires compliance with many requirements, and the problem of the lowest price has not disappeared either,” concluded K. Ceplis. He reminded that sustainable construction from the point of view of the forest and timber industry is very beneficial for the country as a whole, because it uses wood grown in Latvia, which is processed here into a finished product that provides jobs and related tax payments to the state purse. “If such a principle could be defined and followed, everyone would benefit,” said K. Ceplis. He points to a precedent where a wooden house manufacturer operating in Latvia wins a procurement in Norway with the lowest price offer, but is rejected in the finals because of the significant delivery distance, which increases CO2 emissions directly due to transportation.
“Such an approach is lacking in Latvia,” emphasized K. Ceplis. N. Grīnbergs drew attention to the most important thing—competence, without which it is impossible to discuss all other issues in the context of sustainable construction.
“The regulatory framework is there, but the will is lacking,” says Valdis Ligers, Chairman of the Board of SIA Baltic Sustainable Building Advisors. He emphasized that most are ready to pay a 10% higher price so that their children have a better future. “Today, often the first question for the lessor of office center premises is not how much the fee is, but how much CO2 is generated by a specific room in this building,” V. Ligers points out as an example.
There was an objection that state and local government procurements could include questions from the State Audit Office about the implementation of such sustainable construction practices. “The manager will think at least three times whether it is worth doing it,” said J. Gavrilova. N. Grīnbergs, however, pointed to his own experience on how to defend and justify his decision. “If there is adequate funding, then builders can rent equipment that ensures sustainable construction, attract competent specialists, but if there is no adequate budget, then it is difficult to reach the desired goal, namely sustainable construction and building,” said Edijs Kupčs, head of the Latvian Construction Contractors Association.
36% This much energy-related greenhouse gas emissions are caused by buildings
75% This much buildings are not energy efficient
85-95% This much of current buildings are expected to still be in operation in the EU in 2050
40% This much of all energy consumed is caused by buildings