Morning meeting: the benefits of the maintenance of embodied carbon in real estates
24/01/2025
Green Building Council Iceland recently held a morning meeting in collaboration with Iðun fræðslusetur and Verkís , about the benefits of maintaining embedded carbon in real estate. Real estate maintenance is rarely discussed in the context of reducing carbon emissions. Much more is discussed about the economic feasibility of maintenance measures.
Ólafur Ástgeirsson , leader of the construction and civil engineering sectors at Iðan, opened the meeting and welcomed the audience.
Ragnar Ómarsson, structural engineer and business manager for sustainability at Verkís, then gave a lecture and discussed among other things how reducing carbon emissions and cost efficiency can go hand in hand, what it means to maintain embedded carbon, what the rescue value of buildings is and how it is calculated.
There was a good turnout at the meeting, which was livestreamed.
A recording of the meeting will be available here shortly.
Upcoming events
Past events
Small steps, big impact – reducing the environmental effect of the construction industry
03/04/2025
In connection with DesignMarch, the Icelandic Association of Architects, in collaboration with Green Building Council Iceland, Húsnæðis- og mannvirkjastofnun, Miðstöð hönnunar og arkitektúrs and Viska union, held a symposium on eco-friendly construction. The symposium was also supported by Starfsþróunarsetur háskólamanna.
One of the keynote speakers at the symposium, architect Sinus Lynge , is one of the founders of EFFEKT design studio. His vision is to reconnect people with nature through good design in a broad sense. EFFEKT is also one of the founders of the non-governmental organization Reduction Roadmap , which has published a roadmap of the same name. Sinus Lynge presented the philosophy behind the roadmap, which is very ambitious and also shows how much emissions from construction need to be reduced in order to meet the requirements of the Paris Agreement.
The other keynote speaker was Harpa Birgisdóttir, Professor and Head of the Department of Sustainable Buildings at Aalborg University. She has worked on developing software that calculates the ecological footprint of buildings, research that has supported the implementation of legislation regarding the ecological footprint of buildings, and research that shows what actions are needed to ensure that buildings do not exceed planetary boundries.
Elín Þórólfsdóttir , architect MAA , MA in environmental and resource science and team leader at HMS, then discussed Vegvísir að vistvænni mannvirkjagerð (roadmap for sustainable construction) , the achievements made and the next steps. She also discussed life cycle assessments (LCA) in regulations, how they are implemented in Iceland and what impact they have on the construction industry.
After the lectures, a panel discussion took place, with the following members of the panel:
Sinus Lynge, speaker
Harpa Birgisdóttir, speaker
Elín Þórólfsdóttir, speaker
Logi Einarsson, Minister of Culture, Innovation and Higher Education
Borghildur Sturludóttir, architect and Department Head at City Planning in Reykjavik Municipality
Arnhildur Pálmadóttir, architect and Icelands representative in the Venice Biennale in Architecture
Sigríður Ósk Bjarnadóttir, engineer og CEO of the Environment and Quality Department at Hornsteinar
Andri Snær Magnason, writer and environmentalist
Morning meeting - Car cellars or parking garages: impact, hindrances and future visions
25/02/2025
Green Building Council Iceland held a morning meeting on February 25th at 9:00 AM about parking garages and car cellars. The meeting consisted of two presentations and a panel discussion. Over 90 people attended the meeting, which was live streamed. Recordings of the presentations and panel discussions can be found below. Thanks for coming!
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Carbon-neutral Reykjavík 2030: development and climate impact - Hrönn Hrafnsdóttir and Herdís Sigurgrímsdóttir , City of Reykjavík
Hrönn and Herdís presented a project that recently began at the City of Reykjavík and revolves around revolutionizing residents' choices of transportation and how different parking solutions hinder or facilitate changes in transportation habits in the city. One of the questions the project aims to answer is: will car cellars change our transportation habits or solidify the car as our primary mode of transportation?
Parking garages and Borgarlína in Keldnaland - Þorsteinn R. Hermannsson , Betri Samgöngur ohf.
Þorsteinn presented a proposal for the development of a new district at Keldur and Keldnaholt with three Borgarlína stations, which envisages the construction of several parking garages in the area. The parking garages, each of which will be shared by a number of apartments and commercial buildings on nearby plots, will largely replace private basements and private parking on plots. It is intended that the buildings can accommodate central services for the adjacent area on the ground floor and that they can be converted into commercial or residential premises if the need for parking decreases in the future.
Panel discussion
The panel included:
Elín Þórólfsdóttir, team leader from Húsnæðis- and mannvirkjastofnun
Borghildur Sölvey Sturludóttir , architect and head of the department of local planning, City of Reykjavik.
Ólafur Árnason , Director, Icelandic Planning Agency.
Íris Þórarinsdóttir, the chair of the board of Green Building Council Iceland, was the meeting moderator.
Visit to Landsbankinn
23/01/2025
