· Building envelopes said to be key to GCC sustainability
· ‘Always-on’ air conditioned living among top challenges
· William Whistler to speak on exterior walls, envelopes at MEC
6 September, Dubai – Improving
the integrity of building envelopes in residential and commercial
buildings is one of the least contested, generally agreed on, and
lowest cost paths to sustainable construction, according to a leading
expert on green building.
Speaking
ahead of his participation at this year’s Middle East Concrete event,
William Whistler, Managing Director of Green Building Solutions
International, has said the need to develop proper envelopes and protect
concrete and exterior walls from the elements is a situation that is
being exacerbated by rising global temperatures.
“In
this harsh climate in which temperatures are rising globally, our
24-hour, 365-day-a-year air conditioned living means we are building
refrigerators in an oven. This is having a huge impact on buildings and
is extremely detrimental in terms of energy and human health,” he said.
“The
impact of having proper envelopes, especially in the GCC, is also
massive in terms of the amount of the resources and the type of
materials we use in construction and the savings that come from not
expending the time, energy, and materials to build poorly designed
envelopes in the first place,” he said.
While
concrete is not necessarily weakened by moisture, concrete walls and
floors slow the passage of heat moving between the inside and outside,
and Whistler explained that building envelopes are the elements of the
outer shell of a building that help to maintain dry, heated, or cooled
indoor environments.
An
important takeaway he wants visitors to the show to leave with, is the
huge benefits that improving building envelopes can have across the
industry.
“In
my work, I find examples all the time of the consequences of building
envelopes that are not up to the task. I saw a job recently where
residents hadn’t moved in yet and they already have water condensing on
the floor because of the envelope,” he said.
As
a strategy towards sustainability, Whistler added that he hoped his
comments helped people to recognise the opportunity to improve standards
within the built environment to combat climate change.
Whistler’s
session will be one of 54 free certified seminars on a broad range of
topics that will be available to all visitors to Middle East Concrete.
Middle
East Concrete is the only event dedicated to concrete in the Middle
East and is co-located with PMV Live and The Big 5 International
Building and Construction Show. All three events will be held from 23-26 November at the Dubai World Trade Centre.
