Back to the past, but in the spirit of the present

“We are going back to basics,” said Kjartan Long, Sales Manager at Byko, in the first of three lectures in a streamed meeting series on sustainability in the construction industry. He jokingly mentioned that the old Icelandic turf houses would probably all have received the Nordic Swan Ecolabel today and that much can be learned about sustainability by looking at the design of houses from the past. He did note, however, that even though we take cues from the past, we can design in a modern spirit.

“We are making a commitment,” said Berglind Ósk Ólafsdóttir, Environmental Project Manager at Byko, as she described a recent declaration of intent that BYKO signed with the Municipality of Kópavogur to achieve selected UN Sustainable Development Goals. She then described the collaboration between Byko and the Icelandic Forest Service, which has recently been measuring carbon sequestration at Drumboddsstaðir, where BYKO has been cultivating land since 1987. These measurements are a visible result of carbon offsetting, which is part of BYKO's carbon accounting.

“Previously, it was individual project managers who were interested in these things,” said Bergur Helgason, Quality and Safety Manager at ÞG Verk, about environmental practices in the industry, and he reviewed the company's good results in waste management. Now, the entire company is focused on achieving results, and environmental issues have undergone enormous changes in their work organisation.

A recording of the meeting can be viewed above, and you can also register for the upcoming lectures. The next one will be on 19 November, when Finnur Sveinsson and Gísli Sigmundsson will describe the arrangements for the construction of the first Nordic Swan Ecolabelled residential building. The third lecture will then be hosted by Árni Stefánsson, CEO of Húsasmiðjan, and Bjarmar Magnússon, Project Manager at ÍAV, on 10 December.