Green Building Management | SOS - School of Sustainability

Duration: 4 weeks, 2 units/week

Cost: 1000 euro

Dates: the weeks of November 2nd to November 26th

Module Introduction

Municipalities, city planners, architects, engineers, contractors and manufacturers have to tackle the emerging challenges related to the increase in population and the growth of cities. The creation of resilient, ecological and regenerative solutions for urban environments requires investments in knowledge, education and interdisciplinary collaboration across the building sector.

In order to mitigate the consequences of climate change and to reduce CO2 emissions in the construction sector there is a rising need of professional figures able to address climate neutral design, resilient approaches and implementation of circular economy principles.

The lead will be taken by those professionals who are trained to manage net zero carbon buildings and districts, adaptive urban ecosystems, healthy communities in the framework of a new regenerative approach, therefore contributing to the transition to the post carbon era. A key role in that transition will be played by Green Buildings and Cities Managers.

Module Focus

The module goal is to provide an understanding of the principles, strategies and tools for the enforcement of green and sustainable buildings and urban ecosystems, from design stages to construction and operations.

With a focus on the main Sustainable Development pillars of Decarbonisation, Circularity and Resilience and by analysing the most important international rating systems the attendants will be able to contextualise the challenges and the answers needed by the construction industry and its supply chain.

The module covers green building and masterplan certifications such as LEED, SITES, WELL, FITWEL and provides an understanding of the role played by Digital and BIM in creating design and process constructs that can inform the circular transformation of the construction supply chain.

The Structure

Module introduction (PC)
Climate Neutral Design (Arup)
Circular Design (Arup)
International Green Rating systems (GP)
LEED Certification (GP)
SITES Certification (GP)
Well/Fitwel Certification (Arup)
Digitally-enabled Green Management (Arup)

GM 01 - Introduction to Green Building Management provides an overview of the background and of the strategies to enforce green building design and processes within your organization. In alignment with the previous Foundations of Sustainability module, it starts with an outline of the main Sustainable Development pillars of Decarbonisation, Circularity and Resilience in order to put these key-topics in the context of the construction industry supply chain. It follows with framing the green rating systems available in the market and their ongoing evolution to finish with the outline of the strategic transformation of Green Management enabled by Digital and BIM.

GM 02- Climate Neutral Design provides insight into the Climate change mitigation and adaptation approach. The effects of climate change are increasingly tangible, and no one is exempt from the extreme risks posed by a warming world. By analysing the implications of the Paris Agreement target of limiting the global warming to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels, it provides explanation of the concept of Net Zero Carbon design at building and urban scale and outlines key-measures for its future implementation.

GM 03 - Circular Design provides a conceptual framework of the circular economy principles applied to real estate and construction supply chain. Embodied carbon, Life Cycle assessment, materials and components passport, product as service, DFD and DFMA will be introduced and critical discussed as solutions to achieve an effective step-change in the building industry.

GM 04 – International Green Rating systems presents a general overview of Green building and masterplan certifications with an emphasis on residential, commercial buildings, mixed-use developments. Specific topics to be covered include LEED, SITES, WELL and FITWEL.

GM 05 - LEED Certification analyses LEED “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design” the most widely used green building rating system in the world. Available for virtually all building types, LEED provides a framework for healthy, highly efficient, and cost-saving green buildings and masterplans. Real project references and targeted exercises will complement the theoretical lesson.

GM 06 - Sites Certification analyses the Sustainable SITES rating system, a sustainability-focused framework that ushers landscape architects, engineers and others toward practices that protect ecosystems and enhance the benefits they continuously provide our communities such as climate regulation, carbon storage and flood mitigation. Real project references and targeted exercises will complement the theoretical lesson.

GM 07 – Well/Fitwel Certification analyses the two most important Health&Wellbeing rating systems available in the market for the design, development and operations of buildings and communities. Real project references and targeted exercises will complement the theoretical lesson.

GM 08 – Digitally-enabled Green Management presents an overview of the strategic contribution and influence Digital and Building Information Modelling can generate to achieve the sustainable objectives across the whole construction supply chain. Digital modeling, BIM processes, data collection, analysis and visualization are the new working environment for the future Green managers.

Module Leader Bio:

Paolo Cresci Based in Milan, Paolo is the Sustainable Development Leader for Arup in Italy.

He has developed a significant international experience leading multidisciplinary teams in the delivery of innovative and highly sustainable projects, across city, masterplan and building scale. He is a lecturer in several universities and regularly participates to conferences as a speaker promoting an integrated and complex approach to sustainable development and urban regeneration.

He has been the Curator of 2017 Domus Green “People and Nature in the age of Technology” and 2019 Domus EcoWorld “The UN Global Goals in practice”.