Holcim Sustainable Construction Academy. Topic 1, Introduction to Sustainable Construction Course

Master the art of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for sustainable construction. Build upon your foundation in sustainable building principles by learning how to apply LCA to real-world projects. This topic equips you with practical skills to measure and reduce a building's environmental impact from cradle to grave. Discover the intricacies of LCA calculations, interpret Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), and understand the regulatory landscape. Transform LCA from a complex concept into a powerful design tool that drives positive change in the industry.

Unlock the potential of concrete, a foundation for sustainable construction. This course delves into the essential properties and applications of concrete, a ubiquitous building material with a significant environmental impact. Gain a deep understanding of concrete composition, performance characteristics, and its role in the built environment. Learn how to optimise concrete use for efficiency and sustainability while exploring strategies for reducing its carbon footprint. This foundational knowledge is crucial for any professional involved in the construction industry.

Design for a sustainable future and optimise concrete use. As urbanisation accelerates, so too does the demand for concrete. This topic focuses on minimising the environmental impact of concrete by teaching you how to design structures that use less material. Learn from industry experts as you explore efficient design strategies to reduce embodied carbon and optimise resource consumption.

Decarbonize the built environment by understanding concrete and its alternatives. Concrete, a cornerstone of construction, carries a significant environmental footprint. This topic explores the complexities of concrete production, its impact on climate change, and the potential of low-carbon alternatives. Learn to differentiate between concrete types, identify carbon emission sources, and evaluate the benefits and challenges of low-carbon solutions. Gain the knowledge to specify sustainable concrete for your projects and contribute to a greener future.

This course is focused on the principles of circular economy as applied to the construction industry. According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Circular Economy is “a system where materials never become waste… nature is regenerated…” and “products and materials are kept in circulation”. This approach requires a significant mindset shift, often clashing with current economic models. This course offers an overview of key circularity principles with a strong emphasis on prioritising reuse and retrofitting. It also includes a detailed examination of recycling in the concrete industry, highlighting the latest technologies that circulate products and materials at their highest value.

This topic will explore the transformative journey from traditional “grey” cities to the innovative concept of “green” cities, guiding you through the processes for creating sustainable, liveable environments. Here, you will learn to identify different strategies for catalysing urban biodiversity, apply different techniques to support biodiversity through construction, and discuss the architectural principles, benefits, challenges, and real-word implementation of green building typologies .By the end of this topic, you'll have a deeper understanding of how green cities represent a crucial step towards a sustainable urban future, setting the stage for further exploration of sustainable urban planning at district and building levels.

This topic features a four-part discussion between a panel of leading practitioners in sustainable construction held at Arup Headquarters in London in February, 2024. Here, you will reflect on key sustainability questions in the construction industry, integrate key takeaways from the roundtable discussion into your understanding of sustainability in construction, and apply sustainability measures in your organisation.

In this topic, we’re going to explore the thermal performance of concrete and how we can leverage concrete’s inherent properties to help reduce carbon emissions related to temperature regulation. After examining concrete’s thermal properties at a high level, we’ll take a closer look at key principles, including passive thermal design, thermal mass, and insulation, and how these may be employed towards decarbonization targets.

This topic explores the drastic measures required to decarbonise and minimise the global impacts of the construction industry. The pathway to net zero involves several levers including efficiency in design, construction and concrete, decarbonizing electricity used in our operations, lowering the clinker factor in cement with mineral components (MIC), lowering the carbon emissions in clinker, and the use of CCUS and other advanced technologies.