Is it crunch time for sustainability?

Pete Baxter of Autodesk challenges doubters who see sustainability as a fair-weather concept.

There's no doubt that the current economic downturn and the crumbling of the housing market is shaking up the architecture, engineering and construction industry like never before.

But, this has also made the industry take a long hard look at the whole question of sustainable design.

Will the financial situation expose it as merely a fashion or trend; a "nice to have" rather than a "must have"? Is it a luxury that we can ill afford when everything is being pared to the bone?.

There are certainly some in the industry who believe this to be the case.

For example, Michael Finn, chairman of the Building Regulations Advisory Committee recently told Building magazine that "sustainable building is going into hibernation" suggesting that developers will only want buildings using tried and tested methods of, say, air conditioning or heating.

Of course, Finn is speaking out as a warning; "Anyone who doesn't consider lifecycle costs is only getting half the picture," he adds.

However, the whole issue of the government's proposed eco-towns also adds fuel to the fire.

After a backlash from local communities and leading architects alike - and despite announcements in the summer that the programme would go ahead, albeit reduced - there's a general feeling that it may result in just one token eco-town being started next year.

All this may please the doubters - those who benefited from the lack of policing of Part L, for example.

However, there are many in the industry that believe first, that the need to cut emissions is far too serious a problem for it to be at the mercy of the markets - and second that the idea of sustainability is already too entrenched in the psyche of the industry to be shelved at this stage.

After all, BREEAM 2008 only came into force a few months ago.

Introducing these rigorous new energy guidelines BREEAM states that, "these dramatic changes are a response to a changing construction industry and public agenda where in the last few years sustainability has risen right to the top".

So perhaps any polarity misses the point.

Sustainability measures that are more than just paying lip service can be sensible, cost-effective options, especially when viewed in the long-term.

There may be a drop in the number of eco-friendly homes being built next year, but this is probably due to a fall in the number new-build houses of any kind.

Plus, it seems that many of those involved in designing and constructing public buildings and infrastructure are not likely to abandon environmental policies that easily.

But, in my view, it will only be those who refrain from dividing buildings into two types - labelling them either standard or green - who will be able to continue.

Because these firms have already decided they are in it for the long haul and are implementing the technology, processes and working methods that make environmental considerations an integral, rather than separate, part of the process.

Using a traditional 2D CAD system for design, a user will visualise the 3D design in their head and transfer it to a 2D representation.

Some building services CAD systems allow the user to model the system geometry in 3D for the purposes of co-ordination and extracting drawings.

But, because the model isn't computable, the elements and systems don't interact with each other.

However, using building information modelling (BIM) processes, the technology captures the functional relationship between building elements and systems.

The computable building model enables engineers to design building services in the context of the whole building.

For example, since the electrical and mechanical systems "know" about each other, an electrical engineer can track the power requirements of the mechanical equipment included in the design and have the software automatically configure electrical load requirement to dynamically change in mechanical equipment specifications.

When this is the case, experimenting with different materials and methods can be carried out early on in the design process and at little cost in both time and money in order to optimise the energy efficiency or other parts of the design.

For example, Milltechnology is a firm that specialises in high-profile developments which, by their very nature demand fast, efficient and accurate co-ordination of building services and preparation of single service installation drawings.

It uses the BIM tool for building services engineers, Revit MEP.

Revit MEP features automatic sizing and systems layout tools and provides engineers with immediate feedback on their design.

For example, during the layout of a mechanical system, it displays its critical flow, allowing an engineer to modify the design for maximum performance and efficiency.

"It's really very clever," says Milltechnology's CEO, Chris Milford.

"If you draw steel pipework and then want to see how it would work in copper, you can do this with the click of the mouse".

"The design changes the selected system to copper and all of the new properties are assigned automatically".

He also uses a product called Virtual Environment from IES with Revit.

"This can analyse the model and calculate the required heating and cooling loads".

"You can rotate a building 10 degrees at a time to find the optimal position".

Milford sees this package as a key driver in the analysis of energy consumption as construction managers and contractors can prove to developers and government institutions that their buildings are as green as possible.

He believes the ability to model the way buildings behave and change over time is crucial too".

""In our business, the lifecycle starts with design and never ends - and Revit is geared to that," he says.

As well as bringing efficiencies in designing in a more environmentally-friendly and energy saving way, BIM tools such as Revit MEP also streamline other aspects of the workflow.

As a result, they can aid productivity and bring fast return on investment".

"Buildings are built a lot faster today and we need this software support to maintain the momentum required to complete projects on time and on budget," Milford notes".

"We can also deal with revisions very quickly as clients change their minds".

With new technologies enabling users to make better informed decisions on the most sustainable materials and methods as part of a complete streamlining of workflow, green design can become synonymous with good, best practice design.

In other words, the industry has no excuse whatsoever to put sustainability on the (energy efficient) back burner until better times prevail.

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