THE GREEN GUIDE TO SPECIFICATION An Environmental Profiling System for Building Materials and Components

The purpose of this 4th edition of The Green Guide to Specification is to provide designers and specifiers with easy-to-use guidance on how to make the best environmental choices when selecting construction materials and components. It is more comprehensive than its predecessors and contains more than 1200 specifications used in various types of buildings. Developing the content has involved the widest possible consultation with industrial partners, manufacturers and trade associations, academics and researchers, and reference to a wide range of other reliable sources of environmental data and information. The whole process has also been the subject of more rigorous peer review procedures than its predecessors and, as a result, both the methodologies used and the findings made are as robust and dependable as they can be at the present time in the field of environmental impact assessment and life cycle assessment of construction products.

Building Materials and the Environment

This guide is intended to be a practical aid to help designers consider the environmental implications of commonly (and occasionally not-so-commonly) specified building materials. It comprises three main sections:
Part 1 is a short overview of sustainable construction;
Part 2 is a an extensive summary of materials used in construction products providing an insight into the environmental impact of their production, use and eventual disposal;
Part 3 contains a range of data sheets for materials and elements with guidance on their advantages and disadvantages, practical considerations and sustainable alternatives.
The guide also contains a useful bibliography and is fully interactive with many useful links to external sources of further information.

Environmental site layout planning: solar access, microclimate and passive cooling in urban areas

This book is divided into six main chapters. Chapter 1 sets the scene, outlining the importance of each of the main environmental factors affecting site layout. Chapters 2–6 then cover the urban design process, from the selection of a site for a new development to the design and landscaping of individual buildings and the spaces around them. Chapter 2 begins by considering the environmental issues affecting site location. It will be particularly valuable for urban planners setting out environmental structure plans for their cities and towns. It will also be of value to developers who have a range of different sites from which to choose the location of a development. Chapter 3, on public open space, is also principally aimed at urban planners and designers of multi-building developments. It covers a range of issues concerned with the design of groups of buildings and the external spaces they generate around them. Chapter 4 focuses on the design of individual groups of buildings. It will be of particular interest to building designers and development control officers. A key issue, dealt with fully here, is how the new building affects the environmental quality of existing buildings nearby. Chapter 5 links in with this, showing how built form can impact the quality of the building itself and its immediate surroundings. Finally, Chapter 6 will be of particular interest to landscape designers. It deals with the selection and design of vegetation and hard landscaping to modify microclimate in the spaces immediately surrounding buildings. Europe covers a wide range of climate types and not all the techniques described in this book will be applicable to all of them. Throughout the book, the symbols (left) show which climate types the advice is aimed at. Section 1.13 (at the end of this chapter) will be especially useful here. It describes the range of climate types in Europe and the heating and cooling requirements in each, with a summary of layout strategies. Designers without detailed local knowledge of an area may find it helpful to start with this chapter. The book refers to a range of prediction tools which can help evaluate the environmental impacts of buildings and groups of buildings. These are described briefly in Appendices A and B and full references are given. Finally, Appendix C contains a glossary of technical terms used.

Groundwater Discharge Tests: Simulation and Analysis

Building Adaptation

Description
As existing buildings age, nearly half of all construction activity in Britain is related to maintenance, refurbishment and conversions. Building adaptation is an activity that continues to make a significant contribution to the workload of the construction industry. Given its importance to sustainable construction, the proportion of adaptation works in relation to new build is likely to remain substantial for the foreseeable future, especially in the developed parts of the world. Building Adaptation, Second Edition is intended as a primer on the physical changes that can affect older properties. It demonstrates the general principles, techniques, and processes needed when existing buildings must undergo alteration, conversion, extension, improvement, or refurbishment. The publication of the first edition of Building Adaptation reflected the upsurge in refurbishment work. The book quickly established itself as one of the core texts for building surveying students and others on undergraduate and postgraduate built environment courses. This new edition continues to provide a comprehensive introduction to all the key issues relating to the adaptation of buildings. It deals with any work to a building over and above maintenance to change its capacity, function or performance.

Audience:
Readership (primary):. Students (senior undergraduate, graduate, research) of Building Rehabilitation, Built Resources, Construction Management and Surveying. Readership (secondary): Professional Architects, Architectural Technologists, Builders, Building Surveyors

Contents

Introduction; Feasibility; Principles of Building Conversion; Adaptive fuses; Lateral extensions; Vertical extensions; Structural alterations; Principles of refurbishment; Further aspects of refurbishment; Sustainable adaptation; Implementation; Appendices