EU attention oriented towards the traditional architecture of Harghita county
The Committe of the Region’s Environment, Climate Change and Energy Commission (ENVE) voted the draft opinion of Csaba Borboly, president of the Harghita County Council entitled Resource efficiency opportunities in the building sector during a session held in Bruxelles, on 11th of December. The general objective of the Commission's initiative for sustainable buildings is to reduce the impact of the building sector on the environment by improving resource efficiency. The report also draws attention to the programs based on the local traditional architecture of Harghita county. These programmes reveal also new technologies and approaches and also emphasize the possibilities of using traditional and renewable building materials, especially in the case of wood.
Before the vote, Csaba Borboly underlined in his speech that local and regional public institutions have responsibilities in the process not only as investors, but also as maintainers of the buildings. He emphasized the importance of reusing construction materials from demolition, an example which is already applied in Harghita county.
A long and complex process of consultation and analysis stood ahead this draft opinion, in which we managed to involve local and international stakeholders, which the Commission Communication lacked a contribution of. This resulted in a document reflecting needs and objectives of local and regional authorities on sustainable buildings.
The draft opinion adopted today points out, among others, that recent research results show promising data regarding use of wood as a reusable and minimum waste generating construction raw material, a potential we must consider in Europe.
During the consultation process, we found important to list some efforts and best practices of our authorities, which can act as pilot initiatives in other regions as well. This way, the draft opinion underlines rediscovering traditional construction materials and technologies as a great opportunity in re-thinking sustainable buildings. The importance of using local knowledge and local materials is also highlighted in the presented document, in accordance with Harghita County Council's programs aimed at protecting traditional village and modernize old houses.
László Csák, the expert accompanying Csaba Borboly declares that it is extremely important not to examine just the buildings in themselves, but also the communities which will use it and the local environment as well, environment in which the building fits well or badly.
-These factors are really important, and the technocratic point of view should be complemented - declaired László Csák.
The draft opinion highlights the efforts of the local and regional authorities, emphasizing the example of Harghita county in using applied methods in the ase of local and traditional constructions. These initiatives are outstanding from the point of view of of sustainability and energy efficient constructions. The document also contains a remark regarding that industrial activities in connection with ecological construction industry and building materials from demolition could create a lot of jobs and it also suggests the introduction of a compensational mechanism, which would serve the closing up of the lessdeveloped regions.
The containt of the report corresponds with a project realized by the County Council in partnership with the CCIC – an international project with the title of Complex Challenges, innovative cities, program through which they are about to elaborate a regional implementation plan and a pilot project regarding the sustainable public buildings. The regional implementation plan of the project having the general objective of innovating the public sector focuses on energy efficiency in the case of public buildings. The use of local wood chips as fuel could have a positive impact on local employment, ensure additional resources, and requires regional cooperation. The regional implementation plan comes up with different principles, for example integrated photovoltaic solutions in buildings, the use of passive solar energy for heating and cooling, the priorities of the local building materials in the public procurement and planning.
You can find more information about the subject on the following website: http://www.borbolycsaba.ro/en/sustainable-buildings/
Miercurea Ciuc, 11th of December
Leave a Reply