Best Practices from Denmark (Hybrid Event)

Description

This event will be held at architects-Alliance, 317 Adelaide St W, 2nd Flr,  Toronto, CANADA.

May 23rd, 2024 at 10am, but will also be live-streamed. Please note there are only 20 physical seats, but 100 virtual attendees – so please select your preferred option! The event cost is $10 will cover the cost of a fresh Danish pastry and Coffee for Physical Attendees and will otherwise assist with OpenBuilding’s ongoing project costs. Many thanks to architects-Alliance for hosting!

LCA as Part of the Building Codes – Learning from Denmark 

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) calculations are an integrated part of the AEC industries green transition.

 

Since January 2023 LCA has been mandatory for all new buildings in Denmark with a limit of 12kg CO2e /m2 (over a 50yr service life) for buildings above 1,000 sqm. The inclusion of mandatory LCA calculations in the Danish building codes (BR18 and BR23) have made Denmark a worldwide frontrunner in the journey towards a more sustainable building industry.

 

Data in key to LCA, and therefor Formfaktor/GRAPHISOFT Center Denmark has developed DesignLCA together with Lendager Architects.

 

DesignLCA is a free BIM based tool for Life Assessment Calculations that uses the inherent data from BIM to conduct LCA calculations. The national LCA demands have resulted in a huge interest – both on a national and international level – to use LCA together with BIM to lower the AEC industries carbon footprint.

 

The aim of this lecture is to give the attendees insight into Life Cycle Assessments, how the European Union is using LCA to create a more sustainable building industry, why BIM, LCA and sustainability is a strong triangle, and why it is important for architects to calculate LCA in the initial project phases, and how to design buildings with a lower carbon footprint.

 

–––

 

LCA is an integrated part of sustainable building industry certifications such as DGNB, BREEAM and LEED and is hereby part of a much needed more sustainable building and construction industry. Adding demands for LCA in the national or regional building codes creates a clear change in the approach of architects and engineers when the carbon footprint of building materials and energy use from operations are considered from the initial phases of the design process.

 

Digital tools as BIM are a great driver for early LCA and energy evaluation as an iterative process when designing buildings, and using OpenBIM project data is easily moved between different disciplines, stakeholders and software platforms, which is important for LCA to become a design parameter.

 

The keynote will cover these topics:

• What is Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)?
• 60 Danish buildings as baseline for a new CO2 threshold.
• How is the EU pushing sustainability, which parts of the EU have already implemented LCA demands and how have the done it?
• LCA as part of the Danish building codes (what works and what does not)?
• Using BIM and digitalization to enhance the building industry’s green transition.
• Why architects must be able to calculate LCA in the initial project phases.
• How to design with a smaller carbon footprint and how this relates to the planetary boundaries.

 

About the Speakers: 

 

Thomas Graabæk, CEO at Formfaktor

Thomas Graabæk is experienced key-note speaker within all areas of BIM, digitization of the building industry, LCA and OpenBIM.

 

Since 2020 he has been owner of Formfaktor, a BIM focused software developer and reseller company. Prior to that he was a partner in a BIM Consultancy company for seven years, and before that he practised as an architect for 10 years.

 

In autumn of 2019 he helped to establish buildingSMART Denmark as a subsidiary of MOLIO, and has worked as a consultant for buildingSMART for the past 4 years.

 

Thomas holds a master’s degree in architecture from the Danish Royal Academy of fine Arts in Copenhagen from 2002.

 

 

Sidsel Vincents Jansen, Sustainability Lead at Formfaktor

Sidsel Vincents Jansen is a master student at the Techical University of Denmark where she specializes in BIM, sustainability, LCA calculations and machine learning.

 

Sidsel works as a student assistant at Formfaktor where she has been a key driver in the development of DesignLCA that is a 100% BIM-based LCA calculator. Sidsel continues to be an integral part of the continuous further development of DesignLCA.

 

On several occasions Sidsel has presented DesignLCA at trainings, seminars as well as webinars.