The seminar “The contribution of materials to sustainable construction” was held in Granada on 5 September, which was 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 "Granada Declaration" was presented at the event, where the meeting of the European Committee for Standardization for Construction Cement and Lime also took place.
During the seminar, experts underlined the important role played by technical standards when it comes to advancing in the strategy of decarbonisation of construction and to establishing a sector and, ultimately, a society that is more sustainable.
They also highlighted how public administrations trust standards as tools to facilitate and demonstrate compliance with legislation on sustainability.
The President of UNE, Alfredo Berges, took part in the institutional opening event, during which he highlighted the purpose of the Spanish standardisation body: to contribute to the shared progress of society and to the construction of a safer, more sustainable and competitive world.
The block on standardisation followed, which featured presentations by the Director General of CEN and CENELEC, Elena Santiago, and the Director General of UNE and Vice-President of ISO, Javier García.
During his intervention, Javier García highlighted the work of UNE in the construction sector's ecological transition, the standards' alignment with the ESG (Environmental, Social and Good Governance) principles, Spain's leadership in the European standardisation committees related to sustainability in the sector and the successful public-private collaboration model represented by UNE and the Public Administrations, as well as the relationship between the standards and legislation.
Paloma García, UNE's Director of Standardisation Programmes and Stakeholders, moderated a round table about standardisation, in which representatives of the Ministry of Industry and Tourism and the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, as well as of the Associations of Architects and Civil Engineers, participated.
UNE's Vice-President and CEPCO's President, Luis Rodulfo, also took part in the afternoon, in the block on Public Procurement in sustainable construction.
Granada Declaration
The “Granada Declaration” was presented during the seminar. It is a Decalogue of measures aimed at the decarbonisation of construction and supported by UNE. Under the title "The Spanish commitment to sustainability in construction materials", it advocates the important role of low-carbon construction materials. The document approaches a series of useful ways to promote its use. These include advancing in the standardisation of decarbonised (or low-carbon) materials by promoting the regulatory framework of sustainable construction materials, specifically those with low carbon content, through European and Spanish standardisation bodies via the development of technical standards or rules.
Meeting of the European Committee for Cement
This seminar was held coinciding with the meeting of the Technical European Committee for Standardization CEN/TC 51 “Construction Cements and Lime", where 40 representatives from 18 European countries analysed the role of European technical standards for cement and lime framed within the new Construction Products Regulation and the support of standards to European legislation.
