Building Environmental Assessment of Construction and Building Materials

Sustainability assessment of buildings can be defined as a specific complex of proceedings oriented towards systematic and objective evaluation of a building’s performance. These processes lead to the design, construction and operation of buildings with respect to criteria for sustainable development. Since previous instances, the requirements of environmental safety, suitability and responsibility of buildings have increased. The criteria of sustainability are included in building environmental assessment systems and tools used in different countries for evaluating their sustainable and environmental performance. In recent years the evaluation of building performance in terms of environmental, social and economic aspects has become a topic of discussion in the Slovak Republic, as well. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the building environmental assessment system (BEAS), which was developed at the Technical University of Ko?ice. The Slovak system was developed on the basis of existing systems used in many countries. The BEAS covers number of environmental, social and cultural factors. The manner and form of indicators evaluation is proposed according to the SBTool. The proposal of the main fields results from the quality of the outdoor and indoor environment, nature and landscape conservation, exploitation of natural resources and so on. The indicators were proposed according to available information analysis from particular fields of building performance as well as on the base of own experimental experiences. The field of building construction will be introduced in the paper.