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They consider this an essential and preliminary step in their prescription in public or private tenders in order to meet the climate neutrality goals.
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The seminar was opened by the mayor of Granada, the Regional Minister of Public Works and various authorities within the local and national institutional scope.
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The "Granada Declaration: The Spanish commitment to sustainability in construction materials" was presented, a Decalogue of proposals aimed at accelerating the actual use of sustainable construction materials.
Granada, 5 September 2024 – Spain needs a regulatory and standard-setting procedure for sustainable construction materials with a streamlined processing model that is based on technical regulations and standards that promote their prescription in public and private tenders. This is the only way that the climate neutrality goals can be met. This has been one of the main recommendations agreed by over thirty experts that met today at the Association of Architects of Granada at a seminar titled “The contribution of materials to sustainable construction”, which has been organised by OFICEMEN, IECA, UNE and AENOR and received the collaboration of the City Hall of Granada and PTEH (Spanish Technological Platform for Concrete).
The opening was attended by the mayor of Granada, Marifrán Carazo Villalonga; the Regional Minister of Public Works, Territorial Planning and Housing, Rocío Díaz Jiménez; the Vice-Rector for Infrastructure and Sustainability, Montserrat Zamorano Toro; the Dean and President of the Official Association of Architects of Granada, Ismael Rodríguez Pedrosa; the President of the Spanish Association for Standardization, UNE, Alfredo Berges Valdecantos; and the President of OFICEMEN (Spanish Association of cement manufacturers) and IECA (Spanish Institute of Cement and its Applications), Alan Svaiter. The close of the seminar was conducted by AENOR's Director General, Rafael García Meiro.
The event has brought together more than thirty senior officials and technical experts from local, regional, national and Community institutions, as speakers. In addition to the organisers, other parties participated as speakers, such as representatives of the European Committee for Standardization (CEN), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the European Commission, CESCAE, CICPC, SEOPAN, ANCI, CEPCO, Tecniberia, CIES, APCE, ANFAH, ANEFHOP, ANEFA and ANDEC, as well as institutional representatives of various ministries, the Regional Government of Andalusia and local bodies adhered to the administration.
Sustainable construction is not an option, but a need
The seminar's ultimate objective is to raise the public opinion's awareness towards the fact that sustainable construction is not an option, but a need that requires the collaboration of all sectors, in order to reach the climate neutrality goal set by the EU by 2050 and which has been included in the European Green Deal. This goal involves developing new construction solutions that minimise emissions, using secondary raw materials and incorporating strict methodologies that assess the entire life cycle of infrastructure and buildings.
In this regard, the Director General of OFICEMEN, Aniceto Zaragoza, stated that "cement and its main by-product, concrete, together with other construction materials, must be the main pillars of a new decarbonised construction", and added that "UNE's standardisation and AENOR's certification activities provide certainty to the production sectors, the Administration and consumers, and they are essential on this path towards climate neutrality".
The Granada Declaration: Ten measures to decarbonise construction
During the seminar, the “Granada Declaration” was presented and agreed on. It is a Decalogue of measures aimed at the decarbonisation of construction, which under the title "The Spanish commitment to sustainability in construction materials" advocates the important role of low-carbon construction materials. The document stresses on a series of useful ways of encouraging its use, such as its application in public and private tenders and an adaptation of the current technical regulations geared towards fostering the use of these materials.
The aim is having the Granada Declaration become an organic document that grows and is updated according to the progress and needs of society and to which the largest possible number of public and private institutions, within the value chain of construction materials, become adhered.
Granada also hosts standardisation experts from 18 countries
This seminar was held in Granada coinciding with the Plenary Session of the Technical European Committee for Standardization CEN/TC 51 "Construction Cements and Lime", where 40 representatives from 18 European countries debated in technical terms on the future of the European standards for cement and lime framed within the context of the new Construction Products Regulation.
