Eco-Renovation For Sustainable Construction: A Review

Facilities Management of a Learning Institute building with Green Mark Platinum Award constructed 12 years ago —Recommendations for an upgrading project and adoption of new Facilities Management model to manage the upgraded building. 

 
This is a 12-year-old eight storeyed building with GFA of 30.000 square meters. The facilities housed in the building includes a 350-seater auditorium, function halls. classrooms. training rooms, computer rooms, simulator rooms. workshops, library. cafes, offices, and basement carpark. You are the newly appointed building manager and are tasked by the Senior Management of the Learning Institute to put up a proposal to revamp the building and to adopt a new facilities management model to manage the upgraded building. 

Your report should include the following recommendation: 

1) To propose the scope of improvement works to address the building's aging issue in order to meet the current and future operational needs of the Learning Institute.

2) To propose the required upgrading of the building systems and energy management approach to sustain the Green Mark requirement.

3) To proposed a suitable facilities management model for the revamped building with justification. 

Key concerns in Eco-Renovation

The knowledge about the environment and conservational measures is common among the population (Achal et al, .2015). It is very important for the projects that are undertaken within the environment to ensure that the environment is conserved throughout the project process (Ahn et al,. 2010). The current trend in most of the construction industries is to undertake their construction projects in an economical way without environmental degradation. The major objective of the upgrading activity is to design a modern house which shall be a comfortable place for its occupants. The upgrade of the aged building is going  result to an attractive building with conducive air, shall be warmth despite been located in a tropical region, shall have lifts due to additional floors and a wireless internet shall also be installed to facilitate fast browsing in the offices for  efficiency of services. According to Dixon, Connaughton, and Green eds., 2018 the occupants shall be safe from any health hazards especially dust from the surrounding and poisonous gases emitted into the atmosphere by the surrounding industries after the installation of air conditioners and filters in the rooms. The engineers shall incorporate the modern approach (Eco-renovate) during the renovation process of the Facilities Management of a Learning institute old building.  As per the term ‘Eco-renovate’, the project team should purpose to give the best results of the whole upgrading process to meet the environmentally friendliness target set for the renovation of the Facilities management of a learning institute building (Kibert, 2016).

The key project concerns evolve around the following issues:

Energy and water conservation for the occupants. A solar panel can be used to conserve energy which the occupants may use during blackouts. Big water reservoirs can be availed to ensure sufficient water supply for the occupants

Air conditioners should be installed in the rooms for to enhance fresh air which is essential for the brain hence work efficiency in the offices within the building. The general hygiene of the building is also a major concern hence materials used in the renovation especially for the walls, latrines and the floor should enhance efficiency during the cleaning process (Velasco et al, .2014).

The construction company also purpose to reduce air pollution during the renovation process by using machines that have smoke filters for the smoke emitted. This is due to the purpose of fighting against climate change which in most cases is resulted by emissions from the industries in to the atmosphere causing the greenhouse effect.

Energy and water conservation for the occupants

The project also purposes to have a precise amount of the material that shall be used during the renovation of the old building so as to reduce waste of raw materials (Zhang et al, .2014). The materials used should be easy to recycle in future in case they are obsolete so to reduce environmental pollution.

Use Of Project Files

For the assurance of meeting all the project demands, the project participants for the construction company shall have all the project files with the requirements and certifications for approval of their past project experiences so as to guarantee the client quality work that shall meet all the upgrading objectives. The building structural design procedures in ‘Eco-renovate’ are conducive for the environment and utilize the available resources in the most efficient manner.  

Adoption Of Modern Outlook

The good habitat practices are evolving which promote the modern construction outlook requirements that are energy conservative, long lasting and satisfactory. According to Rydin, Amjadand Whitaker 2007 the efficient renovation process for the Facilities Management of a learning Institute building should involve: consumption of limited amount of renewable source of energy, simplicity in the process of maintaining the renovated building at a reasonable cost by the client, sustainability i.e. the renovated building should be able to meet the current generation needs without sacrificing the ability of future generations to meet their needs using the same.

Use Of Standard Materials

During eco-renovation; the use of good materials, wood that has undergone treatment process to avoid pest invasion, long lasting bricks, weed, and ash is essential(Khatib ed., 2016). Application of common sense is also necessary and the building process must be integrated with health measures because the air inside a recently completed building is usually not fresh for the occupants. This is due to the; wall paints which usually smell and hazardous to health when in haled and many other substances used to enhance the indoor appearance. This can be solved through the use of bio-materials which are purposely made from substances extracted from living organisms for the renovation process of the building. These materials usually incorporate a variety of products in building and construction industry.

Scope Of Improvement

The building shall be designed during the renovation process to enhance minimum energy consumption. The most efficient energy conservative measures like use of thermal insulators will be applied during the renovation of the Facilities Management of Learning Institute building. This is because thermal insulators reduce heat loss during cold season and vice versa and heat absorption in summer, hence energy conservation due to less necessity for heating and cooling.

Air conditioners for fresh air and general hygiene

Upgrading Requirements

Effective energy conservation for sustaining the Green Mark requirement shall be achieved through the application of efficient insulating materials and application thermal efficient materials like wood (has high thermal inertia). Proper ventilation should be there especially when insulation is very effective. Sustainable construction should also be considered during the renovation process. In the process of upgrading, special care should be taken so as to avoid generating a lot of waste more so solid which usually result to environmental pollution. Sustainability facilitates the control over environmental pollution through designing various mechanisms that help to control the pollution due to the duty of care owed by the construction company towards the general community as per the law.

Facilities Management Model

During the upgrading process, there shall be the introduction of potted plants which shall minimize the impact solar radiation to the house due to the shade created by those plants. During winter, the walls shall absorb the solar radiation since the leaves would have fallen hence creating warmth for the occupants. The rooms shall be strategically situated in a way that they shall always be radiated by the morning sun which is usually very important because it is usually the source for vitamin D which is very crucial health aspect in the life of a human being.

The building pillars shall also be renovated accordingly and doors shall be insulated to enhance comfort for the occupants during winter and summer and further more good insulating glasses shall be used to enhance low emissive glazing which is energy saving  in comparison to the conventional glazing.

Conclusion

Renovation is important because it enables the building to last for many more years with the safety of the occupants and those around it. The building should always be cross examines to check for renovation requirements and immediate action taken.

References

Achal, V., Mukherjee, A., Kumari, D. and Zhang, Q., 2015. Biomineralization for sustainable construction–A review of processes and applications. Earth-science reviews, 148, pp.1-17.

Ahn, C., Lee, S., Peña-Mora, F. and Abourizk, S., 2010. Toward environmentally sustainable construction processes: The US and Canada’s perspective on energy consumption and GHG/CAP emissions. Sustainability, 2(1), pp.354-370.

Dixon, T., Connaughton, J. and Green, S. eds., 2018. Sustainable Futures in the Built Environment to 2050: A Foresight Approach to Construction and Development. John Wiley & Sons.

Khatib, J. ed., 2016. Sustainability of construction materials. Woodhead Publishing.

Kibert, C.J., 2016. Sustainable construction: green building design and delivery. John Wiley & Sons.

Velasco, P.M., Ortíz, M.M., Giró, M.M. and Velasco, L.M., 2014. Fired clay bricks manufactured by adding wastes as sustainable construction material–A review. Construction and Building materials, 63, pp.97-107.

Zhang, Z., Provis, J.L., Reid, A. and Wang, H., 2014. Geopolymer foam concrete: An emerging material for sustainable construction. Construction and Building Materials, 56, pp.113-127.

Rydin, Y., Amjad, U. and Whitaker, M., 2007. Environmentally sustainable construction: knowledge and learning in London planning departments. Planning Theory & Practice, 8(3), pp.363-380.