Concrete supplement

MITIGATE and

ADAPT! BUILDING OUR COMMUNITIES IN THE AGE OF CLIMATE CHANGE

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Building our communities in the age of climate change

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Building our communities in the age of climate change

Mitigate and Adapt!

Building our communities in the age of climate change The weather was once the worry of only farmers and parents dressing children for school. Today, climate change makes front page and business headlines. Stories of recent natural disasters and their impact on our economies have heightened everyone’s concern − and rightly so.

A 2011 United Nations report on disaster risk reduction identified that losses from disasters are rising faster than gains made through economic growth across many regions.

In Canada, the National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE) predicted that by 2020, climate change impacts could cost the Canadian economy up to 1% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), or $5 billion per year. That cost could climb to $43 billion per year by 2050. If 2013 was any indication, these predictions appear accurate. According to the Insurance Bureau of Canada, 2013 was the most expensive year on record for insurable losses in Canada, with $3.2 billion in weather-related claims. The 2013 Calgary flood alone is estimated to have cost upwards of $6 billion, including non-insurable losses.

The scientific research indicates that our climate will continue to change, with rising temperatures and sea levels, fluctuating rainfall and snowfall patterns, and more unpredictable extremes ranging from floods to droughts and freezing winters. The certainty of that reality has a direct impact on how we define and grapple with the concept of sustainability.

Initially, our definitions of sustainability focused largely on reducing the immediate impact of human activity on the environment and reducing greenhouse gases (GHGs). However, we now are beginning to see sustainability as an even more complex goal, as we search for solutions that factor in all aspects of the changing world around us. With a future of dramatic climate-related disasters inevitable, true sustainability involves more than efforts to reduce GHGs and environmental impacts. We also need to prepare for the climate changes that we cannot avoid.

A 2012 report from the Insurance Bureau of Canada stated that “climate change is likely responsible for the rising frequency and severity of extreme weather events, such as floods, storms, droughts and fires since warmer temperatures tend to produce more violent weather patterns”.

COVER: SURREY, BC - Precast Concrete origami is the highlight of this 2015 SABMag Green Building Awards winner. The Surrey City Hall and Plaza, acting as the City’s municipal government and anchor, is a vibrant new urban Civic Centre for the second largest municipality in British Columbia. Architects: Kasian and Moriyama & Teshima Architects. Photo: Armtec 1 - TORONTO, ON - The slender 51-storey One King West used 1,071 precast concrete panels covering 8,640 sq. m [93,000 sq. ft]. Architect: Standford Downey Architects, Inc. 2 - Berlin, Germany - Resilient concrete beams are an integral part of the Jewish Museum Berlin. Architect: David Libeskind.

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Building our communities in the age of climate change

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Resilience: More than a buzzword We have been hearing a lot about sustainable construction over the past few years. Now “resilient construction” are the new buzzwords. “Resilience” has become a cornerstone of “sustainability”.

When it comes to our communities, resilience can be defined as our ability to maintain functions and structure in the face of turbulent internal and external change. More precisely, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) defined resiliency as the ability of any system (infrastructure, government, business and citizenry) to resist, absorb and recover from or successfully adapt to an adversity.

Community functions decline swiftly as citizens respond to a disaster. A more resilient community can more quickly restart local services (utilities, businesses, schools) and chart a path to a “new normal”. These communities avoid major loss or recover more quickly because they have taken measures to minimize a disaster’s impact. Those measures include: improved land-use decisions and building code implementation as well as the construction of resilient infrastructures, to name a few.

3 The key to disaster recovery is not only to get essential services back up and running, but also to get people back to work. That means buildings and structures must not only resist damage caused by adverse events, but must also be in a condition suitable for occupancy as soon as possible. For example, having schools that are operational after a major event helps create a sense of normalcy and mitigates the massive financial and emotional hardship on the community.

While resilience and lowering our current activities environmental impact are key to sustainability, they are often two different strategies that have to be successfully balanced. Unfortunately, that balancing act is currently failing in many of our communities. The trend in Canada, especially for structures that are not owner designed, built, and occupied is to maximize profitability by simply satisfying the least stringent provisions of the local building code.

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Building our communities in the age of climate change

The Missing Link To date, most building code requirements have an emphasis on life safety, i.e., they allow major damage or total collapse as long as the occupants can be evacuated prior to or during the event. However, excessively damaged buildings prevent recovery in communities. Recovery is a measure of returning a community to its original state and how quickly this occurs is controlled by the resilience of the community’s infrastructure.

When it comes to most of the green construction programs being implemented, codes and standards focus on energy, material, water conservation, indoor environmental quality and site selection/development. While these are important aspects of sustainable building design and construction, plans for resilience are not inherent in these programs.

Communities built to last start with comprehensive planning, including stricter building codes that produce robust structures with long service lives.

3- Calgary, AB: In the aftermath of the epic 2013 flood that displaced 100,000 Calgarians, concrete structures like the Calgary Center Street Bridge were proven to be the most resilient. Architect: John F. Green. Photo: Ryan Quan [Flickr].

4 - OTSUCHI, JAPAN - A shipwrecked ferry rests atop a concrete building in the aftermath of the devastating Tohoku Tsunami of March 2011. Photo: Hiroto Nomoto.

5 - VANCOUVER, BC: The expanding rapid-transit system connects several cities within the Metro Vancouver region. Photo: Josef Hanus [shutterstock].

The Resilience of Concrete Consider this staggering fact: since the 1970s, property losses by decade have increased by more than 3500%.

Our communities require proactive plans to mitigate and recover from disasters. Those plans must include conscientious construction methods using durable, strong materials. Concrete is an example of such a material. It is designed to absorb large static and dynamic loads and resist damage due to snow, flooding and fires.

Wall, floor, and roof systems constructed of concrete products offer an unsurpassed combination of structural strength and wind resistance. Add hardened exterior finishes for walls and roofs and a home or business will have the best combination of strength and security available.

Concrete products are resistant to wind, hurricanes, floods, and fire. As a structural material and building exterior skin, concrete has the ability to withstand nature’s normal deteriorating mechanisms as well as natural disasters.

Properly designed, concrete products are resistant to extreme loading conditions such as earthquake and blast loads.

6 - ROME, ITALY: Built in 126 AD, the Pantheon is a remarkable testament to the durability and resilience of concrete. Photo: Elena Baharera [shutterstock].

Planning for a Sustainable Future The residents of more robust cities and towns experience major benefits from the overall improvements associated with resilient building practices. They include: fewer burdens on local services, a more stable local economy that provides consistent sources of money to run the municipality, and a more enduring legacy for future generations.

Concrete products are made of natural raw materials (stone, gravel, sand, cement) which are locally available almost everywhere. This helps minimize the whole lifecycle impact on the environment when compared with other construction materials. Additionally, almost 100% of a concrete building can be recycled, no matter how heavily reinforced.

Builders, architects, and designers have come to recognize that more durable structures, often built with concrete to resist damage from natural disasters, also reduce the impact communities have on our planet. Multiple academic studies illustrate that the passive energy-efficiency benefits of concrete, via its thermal mass, represent gains of up to 8% over other materials. Typically, this more than makes up for the environmental impact of the cement and concrete manufacturing process. More importantly, and as many real world examples demonstrate, integrating concrete’s thermal mass as a design strategy and pairing it with passive and/or active radiant heating and cooling systems can magnify efficiency benefits by a factor of ten. Real world examples show this holistic approach yields energy-efficiency improvements of 70% over the Model National Energy Code for Buildings.

And while cement is only a small component of a typical concrete mix, the cement sector is nonetheless committed to reducing its GHGs. In the last 20 years, the industry has reduced the energy required to make a tonne of cement by about 20%. Additionally, the recently introduced lower carbon cement Contempra reduces CO2 emissions by 10% compared to regular cement. If Contempra were to replace all cement consumed in Canada, it would save almost 1MT of GHG emissions per year.

When taking the broad view of sustainability, and acknowledging the realities of our future climates, concrete is a critical component of building safe, lasting and environmentally efficient communities. It is climate-friendly and climate-ready.

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A LOW CARBON FOOTPRINT BUILDING MATERIAL FOR THE AGES Concrete products are integral to the sustainability and resilience of our communities because of their versatility.

7 - Toronto, ON: The Ryerson University Learning Centre is the recipient of the 2015 Ontario Concrete Awards - Material Development and Innovation.

Architect: Zeidler Partnership Architects. Photo: citatus [Flickr].

8 - CALGARY, AB: Architectural Precast concrete was chosen for the Champagne Quarry Park Project for its beauty, resilience and inherent fire resistance - all being key requirements for this property. Architect: Gibbs Gage Architects. Photo: Lafarge Precast, Division of LafargeHolcim.

BACK COVER - Vancouver, BC: Built using lower carbon Contempra-based concrete, the twisting Trump Tower will stand at 57 storeys in downtown Vancouver.

Architect: Arthur Erickson. Photo: Trump International Hotel & Tower, Vancouver.

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STRONG, DURABLE, AND LOW MAINTENANCE

IDEAL FOR ADAPTIVE REUSE

Concrete products last decades longer than alternative building materials. Not only is concrete’s structural stability maintained for longer periods, it is non-combustible, preventing the spread of fire from one unit or one building to another.

It is resistant to moisture and doesn’t rot or mold. And it is sufficiently strong to resist impacts, blasts and natural catastrophes like earthquakes, tornadoes and floods.

Because of concrete’s strength, sound attenuation, and fire resistance, concrete buildings can easily be converted to other occupancy types during their service life. Reusing buildings in this way can help limit urban sprawl and further contributes to the conservation of our resources and preservation of the environment.

ENERGY-EFFICIENT

COST-EFFECTIVE

The ability of concrete products to store energy (their thermal mass) helps moderate interior temperature conditions, allowing a more constant temperature both in cold and hot regions. It improves a building’s “passive survivability” in the event that services such as power, heating fuel, or water are lost − minimizing energy demands for the city as a whole.

Thanks to their durability, resilience, low maintenance requirements and energy-efficiency, structures built with concrete products reduce operating costs related to operational energy consumption, maintenance, and rebuilding following disasters. Insurance costs for concrete buildings during the construction and operating phases have also been shown to be significantly lower than for buildings constructed with combustible, moisture-sensitive materials.

COMFORTABLE

100% RECYCLABLE

Concrete products have intrinsic properties of acoustic insulation. This can help amplify sound within a space or dampen it between spaces. Concrete buildings can measurably reduce sound transmission between residential units, giving occupants more privacy.

Concrete products can be recycled as aggregate — for use as sub-base material in roadbeds and parking lots, for gabion walls, as riprap to protect shorelines or in other applications — or as granular material, thereby reducing the amount of material that is landfilled and the need for virgin materials in new construction.

EMISSION-FREE An inert substance when cured, concrete is emission-free and will not emit any gas, toxic compounds or volatile organic compounds.

VERSATILE

PRODUCED LOCALLY Concrete is typically manufactured within 160 kilometers of a project site, using local resources. This greatly minimizes shipping and pollution and makes a significant contribution to the local economy.

While strong and functional when hardened, concrete’s plasticity when freshly mixed lets designers adapt it to whatever form, shape, surface and texture they can imagine. Innovations such as ultra-high performance concrete, photocatalytic concrete and pervious concrete are also enabling new and creative uses.

Building our communities in the age of climate change

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Building our communities in the age of climate change