Get Sust! Issue 29

Green specification systems

A sustainable building should last a lifetime, and that means design decisions taken today could have repercussions for the next 60 years or more. With a growing focus on the materials used in construction - their embodied energy, their recycleability, and their potential toxicity - designers and their clients need accurate and accessible information from trusted sources.

The best known is BRE’s “Green Guide to Specification”, now preparing its fourth edition. But there are others coming on line that present an alternative way of assessing materials. GreenSpec, for example, considers the issue from the architects’ perspective.

“GreenSpec aims to provide practical information to help designers understand the issues in enough detail and no more,” says Brian Murphy, who developed the National Green Specification (GreenSpec for short).

GreenSpec assesses construction products based on 25 criteria, ranging from those concerning embodied energy (greenhouse gas contributions) and use of natural resources through to take-back/ product stewardship, eco-packaging and reduced life cycle toxicity (including low/reduced off-gassing).

One of Brian’s main concerns about the BRE system is that the Environmental Profiles upon which many of the analyses are based concentrate on the negative aspects of materials, and tend to focus on products from large manufacturers. He says this results in some of the greenest options being overlooked. However, GreenSpec does list BRE ABC Rating, BRE EcoPoints, and BRE Environmental Profile data on its product pages. GreenSpec also uses a panel of industry experts where there are shortfalls of “conventional” evidence.

Brian Murphy will reveal more about the GreenSpec analysis system, and his thoughts on all things “material” at a seminar in Reading on 20 June (2-5pm). “I will bring along many samples of ‘green products’ for you to view, handle, smell and taste, and other products in everyday use that you, your clients and your children really shouldn’t!” he says.

Meanwhile, BRE has recently published an information paper that explains how it prepares environmental ratings (Ecopoints), and how it has recently reviewed its procedures, ahead of the forthcoming revision of the “Green Guide to Specification”. This detailed report will be particularly useful to researchers, specifiers and manufacturers who need a deeper understanding of environmental profiling.

Learn more:

	•	“Creating environmental weightings for construction products; Results of a study” (BR493) by L Hamilton et al, £25, ISBN: 978-1-86081-968-1, available from www.ihsbrepress.com.
	•	“Shades of Green in Material Specification”, organised Brian Murphy of National Green Specification is on 20 June, 2-5pm, at The Business Centre, Green Park, Reading. Cost: £55 (RIBA/CIAT members); £68 others. Contact Brian Murphy (01733 238148) or visit www.greenspec.co.uk.