Sustainability assessment for recreational buildings

Abstract

A large amount of natural resources and energy is wasted during and after the building construction process which might cause environmental problems such as climate changes. In order to achieve higher standards of environmental protection a range of building assessment systems has been established. However, they are mostly connected with the efficiency of an environmental protection and consumption of resources. Only few of them have limited possibilities to assess social and economic sustainability. A sustainable building includes aspects of environment, economy and society and therefore requirements to its assessment systems should be complex. We suggest that sustainability principles, that is, environmental, social and economic sustainability, should be estimated in the same equal weightings. The authors of this article created a model for assessing the sustainability for recreational buildings. Our model was created, in collaboration with experts, using breakdown, compensation and the analytic hierarchy process methods. The sustainability of Druskininkai Snow Arena (Lithuania) was assessed using a sustainability assessment system based on the proposed model.