Six educational meetings on sustainability in the construction industry
The series of streamed meetings in collaboration with the Iceland Green Building Council has concluded for now. The aim of the meetings was to raise awareness and educate tradespeople about sustainability in the construction industry. You can watch the full meetings below. Special thanks to the participants and viewers for the initiative, which is hopefully a good and necessary contribution to the rapid development of sustainability in Icelandic industry.
IÐAN Education Centre, in collaboration with the Iceland Green Building Council, has organised a lecture series on sustainability in the construction industry and held six morning meetings since last autumn.
1. Introspection on Sustainability and BYKO's Environmental Policy
At the first meeting, Þórhildur Fjola Kristjánsdóttir described the activities of the Iceland Green Building Council. Bergur Helgason, Quality and Safety Manager at ÞG Verk, discussed cost reduction and a lower carbon footprint in waste recycling. Berglind Ósk Ólafsdóttir, Environmental Project Manager at BYKO, spoke about the company's environmental policy.
2. Purchasing Building Materials and Iceland's First Nordic Swan Ecolabelled Residential House
Last November, Finnur Sveinsson, an environmental scientist and consultant, discussed the decision he and his wife, Þórdís, made to build the first Nordic Swan Ecolabelled residential house in Iceland.
"Icelanders produce environmentally friendly energy, live off clean and natural products, fish and agricultural goods, and so on, and of course, we should also live in eco-friendly houses. That is the last piece of the puzzle for a clean and pure Iceland," according to Finnur.
Then, Gísli Sigmundsson, a carpenter and owner of Breytingar ehf, discussed his vision for sustainability. He completely avoids biodegradable materials and says he is improving his purchasing of building materials with each passing day.
3. Nordic Swan Ecolabelled Kársnes School and Húsasmiðjan's Environmental Policy
Last December, Árni Stefánsson, CEO of Húsasmiðjan, discussed the company's environmental policy and BYGMA's social report.
Sandra Rán Ásgrímsdóttir, a sustainability engineer at Mannvit, spoke about, among other things, the company's sustainability report and the planned construction of Kársnes School, which aims to receive the Nordic Swan Ecolabel.
4. Community-Certified Selfoss and a Vision for Sustainability
In January, the guests at the morning meeting were Sigrún Melax from JÁVERK and Ragnar Ómarsson from Verkís. Sigrún discussed the new town centre in Selfoss, which will receive the Nordic Swan's community certification. Ragnar, who is also the chairman of the Iceland Green Building Council, shared his vision for sustainability in the construction industry.
5. Indoor Environment and the "Unsustainable Generation"
In early February, Sylgja Dögg Sigurjónsdóttir, a biologist at Efla, and Ríkharður Kristjánsson, PhD in Civil Engineering, attended. Sylgja discussed indoor air quality and the indoor environment. Dr. Ríkharður talked about, among other things, financial sustainability and the responsibility of his own generation, which he described as the most unsustainable in human history.
6. Waste as a Resource and the Reuse of Structures
At the last morning meeting, the speakers were Dr. Sigríður Ósk Bjarnadóttir from VSÓ Consulting and Freyr Eyjólfsson, Communications Manager at Terra. Sigríður discussed designing structures with the aim of being able to reuse the building in another form later (Design for Disassembly). Freyr covered topics such as waste collection and its importance in the value creation of society, stating that waste is the resource creation of the future.
