Sustainability considerations within a specification, especially if they’re essential to meet certain corporate social responsibility requirements or obey regulations, can take days to research and calculate. Sika’s Sustainability Hub will drastically reduce this time with its all-in-one portal that guides users through the process.
The hub contains information on Life Cycle Assessments (LCA’s), a standardised method used to evaluate the environmental impacts associated with all the stages of a Sika product's life. Sika can offer specific LCA evaluations for individual projects along with information on BRE green guide ratings and Environmental Product Datasheets (EPD’s), providing the specific information specifiers need to meet sustainability requirements.
In addition, the user can request general sustainability packs or specific packs for green building certification schemes including BREEAM, (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method), the standard for best practice in sustainable design, and LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). To maintain a flexible system BREEAM adopts a ‘balanced score-card’ approach to the assessment and rating of building performance. Requesting project specific BREEAM packs through the website, saves time and outlines the extra points available through the specification of a Sika roofing system.
Martin Bidewell, Technical Services Manager at Sika Roofing, explains the benefits for those specifying Sika products: “There is often a lot of confusion surrounding sustainability in the construction industry and working out whether products meet certain targets can be a very time consuming process. Our aim with the hub is to make things simpler, with well laid out tools that take the hassle out of having to compile this information from multiple sources. Plus, the user can contact the Sika Technical Team at any time for support on their specification.
“Through the Sustainability Hub we are supporting specifiers. We are helping them meet the future sustainability demands of their projects, which we hope will contribute to their success in a competitive tender situation.”
Furthermore, the hub contains all the information required on Sika Roofing’s sustainable systems, including SolaRoof, Green Roof and thermal insulation, as well as a number of sustainability case studies. Users will also be able to use the hub to maximise compliance with the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) scheme, a policy that is aimed at increasing energy efficiency to improve a company’s business profits, and also future schemes such as the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES).
One of the main drivers for clients and designers wanting to build greener are targets for sustainable growth in the UK, including the EU Energy Directive and the UK Climate Change Act. As part of this, new MEES regulations, which come into force in April 2018, will make it unlawful to let buildings (both commercial and domestic) in England and Wales that do not achieve a minimum Energy performance Certificate (EPC) rating of ‘E’ Poor energy performance. This will have a significant impact for many landlords and makes the introduction of the hub and building sustainably even more important.
The launch of this new website is part of Sika’s continued implementation of its 2014-2018 Sustainability Strategy, aiming to enhance the company’s operating practice, reduce negative impacts, and to help its partners and customers do the same.
Martin adds: “The reduction of carbon emissions is a global issue and therefore a key focus for Sika. Through our high performance products, systems and solutions, we continue to strive to create long-term benefits and added value for all our stakeholders, helping to improve efficiency, reduce resource consumption and lessen impacts associated with production.”
