Past events - Before 2021
The renovation of Swan-certified office building
12/11/2020
On September 18, Reitir received a Swan certification for the renovation of the Environment Agency's (Umhverfisstofnun) office building at Suðurlandsbraut 24. The construction was the first to receive certification according to Swan standards for environmentally certified renovations. During the briefing, the experience and lessons learned from the project were reviewed. The moderator was Þórhildur Fjóla Kristjánsdóttir, manager of Green Building Council Iceland. Slide presentations from the meeting can be found below (in Icelandic):
→ Svansvottaðar endurbætur - hver eru viðmiðin fyrir vottun
(Guðrún Lilja Kristinsdóttir, Team leader, Umhverfisstofnun);
→ Lærdómur eiganda hússins
(Íris Þórarinsdóttir, Environmental manager, Reitir);
→ Reynsla framkvæmdaraðila
(Þráinn Fannar Gunnarsson, Project manager, THG arkitektar).
Green operation of apartment buildings at the Living better conference
31/10/2020
Green Building Council Iceland gave a presentation on the Green operation of apartment buildings at the Living better conference on health and environmental issues. Housing associations can have a very positive impact on the environment, whether it is related to maintenance, waste management, common property, transport or gardening. Þórhildur Fjóla and Elísabet Sara tell about the many ways you can go, and some advice is also relevant for those who live in a single-family house, two-family house or three-family house.
The lecture was prepared based on the guidelines for Green apartment buildings that GBCI prepared in 2019 (available here - in Icelandic).
The presentation can be watched here:
Green bonds and real estate
28/10/2020
Morning session on the value of environmentally certified buildings for investors, was organised in collaboration with IcelandSif. Þórhildur Kristjánsdóttir, CEO of GBCI, opened the meeting and introduced different certifications, e.g. BREEAM, Leed and the Swan. Members from both Regin and Reitum review their experience with such certificates - their advantages, disadvantages and benefits for property owners. Gréta Þórsdóttir Björnsson, architect at the Environment and Planning Department of the City of Reykjavík also gave a talk.
Slide presentations (in Icelandic) can be found below:
(Þórhildur Fjóla Kristjánsdóttir, Green Building Council Iceland);
→ BREEAM vottun
(Baldur Már Helgason og Sunna Hrönn Sigmarsdóttir, Reginn);
→ Reynsla Reita af Svansvottun endurnýjunar skrifstofuhúsnæðis
(Einar Þorsteinsson, Reitir);
→ Reynsla Reykjavíkurborgar
(Gréta Þórsdóttir Björnsson, Reykjavík City's Department of Environment and Planning).
Annual Green Building Council Iceland Meeting
11/09/2020
The GBCI general meeting was held on Friday, September 11 at 12-2 pm in Hannesarholt, Grundarstíg 10. The usual general meeting activities took place.
The meeting minutes can be found here.
Green Building Day 2020
10/09/2020
The annual Green Building Day was held in Reykjavík City Hall's Tjarnarsal on Thursday, September 10, 2020. As in previous years, interesting talks were given by leading professionals from the fields of design, planning and civil engineering, where sustainability in the built environment will be the guiding principle. Among the speakers is the Norwegian architect Tine Hegli, who can be considered one of the world's leading experts in the field of carbon-neutral design.
Facebook event can be found here.
Full live video can be found here. Slides and presentation recordings can be found below. The event was held in Icelandic with one presentation in English.
Agenda
→ Welcoming
(Moderator, Kristjana Ósk Jónsdóttir, GBCI Board member and marketing director, Reitir);
→ Opening speech
(Ásmundur Einar Daðason, Ministry of Housing in Iceland);
→ Carbon neutral buildings (in English; video recording is missing)
(Tine Hegli , Architect, Snøhetta and professorr, the Oslo School of Architecture and Design);
→ Aðlögun að loftslagsbreytingum með grænum lausnum
(Halldóra Hreggviðsdóttir, General manager and founder, Alta);
→ Kolefnisspor viðmiðunarhúss á Íslandi
(Ólafur H. Wallevik, Professor, Háskólinn í Reykjavík and Director of the Construction Industry Laboratory, NMÍ);
→ Vistvænn vegvísir fyrir byggingariðnaðinn
(Þóra Margrét Þorgeirsdóttir, Specialist, Húsnæðis- og mannvirkjastofnun);
→ Grænni byggð og loftslagmálin
(Ragnar Ómarsson, Construction engineer, Verkís and chairman of the GBCI Board);
Nordic Climate Forum for Construction
27/08/2020
Nordic Climate Forum for Construction was held online on August 27, 2020 from 8:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Icelandic time. It was organised by Trafik-, Bygge and Boligstyrelsen in Denmark in collaboration with other housing and infrastructure organizations in the Nordic countries, The Swedish Life Cycle Center in Sweden and the Nordic Council of Ministers. Húsnæðis- og mannvirkjastofnun (HMS) is the Icelandic partner in this Nordic collaboration.
Its purpose was to have a conversation about how the Nordic countries can better control the environmental impact of the construction industry and reduce emissions from construction.
The detailed agenda can be found here.
The presentation recordings are available here.
Rafhjólavæðingin - Hádegisfundur
25/08/2020
Græna Orkan, GBCI, and Hjólafærni hosted a lunch meeting on the electric bike market in Iceland at Green Energy (Orkustofnun). The event was held in Icelandic.
Moderator: Anna Margrét Kornélíusdóttir, Project manager, Græna Orkan.
Agenda:
→ Reynslan hjá Reykjavíkurborg
(Kristinn Eysteinsson, Project manager, Reykjavíkurborg);
→ Rafhjólareynslan hjá Norðurorku
(Erla Björg Guðmundsdóttir, HR manager, Norðurorku);
→ Örflæði: Lítill mótor fyrir stuttar ferðir
(Jökull Sólberg Auðunsson);
→ Aðstaða við verslunar- og þjónustukjarna
(Baldur Már Helgason, Managing director, Reginn);
→ Rafhjól: Þjónn á þeytingi
(Sesselja Traustadóttir, Hjólafærni).
Upptökur frá viðburðinum:
Morning talk: Travel habits in urban environment after Covid 19
23/06/2020
The event was held in Icelandic. Agenda:
→ Skipulagsmál, loftslagsmál og endurskoðun langtímamarkmiða eftir Covid19
(Hrafnhildur Bragadóttir, Skipulagsstofnun);
→ Hvað segja tölurnar um ferðavenjur á höfuðborgarsvæðinu
(Daði Baldur Ottósson, EFLA);
→ Græni stígurinn í Græna treflinum
(Þráinn Hauksson, Landslag);
→ Sveigjanlegri ferðavenjur og grænir innviðir
(Ólöf Kristjánsdóttir, Mannvit);
→ Kófið, lýðheilsan og skipulagsmálin
(Matthildur. Kr. Elmarsdóttir, Alta).
Leap towards sustainability after Covid19
15/05/2020
GBCI had a tpresentation on Green infrastructure (Grænir innviðir) at the climate strike's lunch meeting on Leap towards sustainability after Covid19.
The presentation can be found here (in Icelandic).
07/05/2020
BREEAM - Annexe
Green Building Council Iceland presented a summary of the results of research projects on the BREEAM certification system and ideas from the BREEAM - IS annexe. BREEAM in the UK has approved this work and will review the GBCI 2020 proposals.
Sustainability in the construction industry - Course
29/04/2020
The course was held in Icelandic by IĐAN in cooperation with Green Building Council Iceland.
There are four lectures which were:
→ Sjálfbærni í mannvirkjagerð - almenn yfirferð
(Ragnar Ómarsson);
→ Stig - Ný sjálfbærni viðmið Evrópusambandins (Levels)
(Ragnar Ómarsson);
→ Bundið - kolefni (Embodied carbon)
(Ragnar Ómarsson);
→ Hringrásarhagkerfið í byggingariðnaði - áskoranir og möguleikar
(Þórhildur Fjóla Kristjánsdóttir).
The 10th anniversary of Green Building Council Iceland!
24/02/2020
Presentations (event held in Icelandic):
→ Niðurstöður rannsóknarverkefna
Þórhildur Fjóla Kristjánsdóttir);
→ Myndir frá starfinu við ávarp frá Hlökk Theodórsdóttur
(Harpa Birgisdóttir).
Morning meeting: Icelandic glulam, wooden buildings and furniture
05/12/2019
The morning meeting was organised in Hafnarborg (Strandgatu 34, Hafnarfjörður). The moderator was Ragnar Ómarsson, chairman of Green Building Council Iceland and construction engineer at Verkís. The event was held in Icelandic. The Facebook event can be found here.
Agenda:
→ Umhverfisáherslur fyrir byggingar í Hafnarfirði
(Sigurður Haraldsson, Chairman of Hafnarfjörður Environment and Planning Department);
→ Framleiðsla á límtré úr íslensku timbri - niðurstöður rannsókna
(Logi Unnarson Jónsson, Construction engineer, LímtréVírnet);
→ Hönnun timburbygginga á Íslandi
(Sigurður Einarsson, Architect, Batteríið arkitektar);
→ Timburbyggingar
(Svava Björk Hjaltalín Jónsdóttir, Architect)
→ Að hanna húsgögn úr íslensku timbri
(Björn Steinar Blumenstein, Designer)
→ Staða nytjaskóga á Íslandi
(Hlynur Gauti Sigurðsson, CEO, Landsambands skógareigenda).
Conference - Indoor air quality, energy efficiency and environmental certification
14/11/2019
GBCI's autumn conference on indoor air quality, energy efficiency and eco-certification (in Icelandic). See event on Facebook here.
Agenda:
→ Af hverjum erum við hér í dag? Áskoranir varðandi loftræstingu og orkunýtni
(Björn Marteinsson, Associate professor, Háskóli Íslands);
→ Orkuhermun og Raunnotkun – Er gott samhengi þar á milli?
(Sveinn Áki, Engineer, VSB Verkfræðistofa);
→ Loftræstilausnir í BREEAM verkefnum
(Brynjar Örn Árnason, Engineer; EFLA);
→ Loftræsting og loftgæði í skólum: Svansvottaðurskóli á Íslandi
(Alma Dagbjört Ívarsdóttir, Engineer, Mannvit);
→ Áherslur Betri Bygginga
(Ólafur H. Wallevik, Director of the Construction Industry Laboratory, NMÍ);
→ SIMIEN Orkuútreikningar fyrir BREEAM verkefni
(Bjartur Guangze Hu, Engineer, VSÓ Ráðgjöf);
→ Betri byggingar
(Sylgja Dögg Sigurjónsdóttir, Construction engineer, EFLA);
→ Rekstur loftræstikerfa og orkunýtni á Íslandi
(Karl H. Karlsson, Blikksmiðjan and HR).
Workshop on BREEAM
31/10/2019
Workshop on BREEAM in the context of Icelandic conditions. How is adaptation to local conditions generally managed? What is the experience with BREEAM in Iceland and how can the requirements of BREEAM be adapted to Icelandic conditions?
Experts shared their experience with BREEAM and how its requirements can be met, taking into account Icelandic conditions.
This was a closed workshop among members of the Green Building Council Iceland.
Educational session on BREEAM
31/10/2019
GBCI organised a meeting with BREEAM expert Glen Watts in the Verkís office. The discussion included trends and trends in new construction and in-use versions of BREEAM environmental certification and how BREEAM adapts to Icelandic conditions.
BREEAM is one of the world's best-known and most widely used environmental certification systems. The system covers many factors related to the impact of a building on the environment, but the number of Icelandic buildings with BREEAM certification is increasing rapidly every year.
See the Facebook event here.
What to do with the methane?
23/10/2019
Græna orkan, Green Building Council Iceland and Orkustofnun organised a lunch event entitled "What to do with the methane?" Wednesday, October 23. Ways to increase the utilization of methane in this country, and its role in the energy exchange, were discussed, especially in light of the planned increase in its production. Also, Sorpa's gas and composting plant was introduced.
The chairperson was Fundarstjóri var Þórhildur Fjóla Kristjánsdóttir, CEO of GBCI. The event was held in Icelandic.
The prelegents were as follows:
→ Björn Halldórsson, Managing director, Sorpa;
→ María Jóna Magnúsdóttir, Executive director, Bílgreinasambandsins;
→ Hafsteinn Helgason, Head of development, EFLA;
→ Auður Nanna Baldvinsdóttir, Business development manager, Landsvirkjun and the chairman of the GBCI Board;
→ Guðmundur B. Friðriksson, Office manager, Office of Environmental Quality at the City of Reykjavík.
Morning talk on the school grounds design for ecological transport
18/10/2019
Agenda (presentations in Icelandic):
→ Ólöf Kristjánsdóttir - the transportation specialist at Mannvit Verkfræðistofa presented a presentation based on data from and work with Reykjavík City's Cycling Plan.
→ Herborg Árnadóttir from Alta ráðgjöf delivered a talk based on his project on active transport from the point of view of the movement and how to design an urban environment that encourages it.
→ Hermann Georg Gunnlaugsson from Teiknistofunni Storð gave a talk titled "The school site from the children's point of view - School site design and sustainable transport". Hermann recently defended his Master's thesis in planning studies on the environment of preschools and the effects of built density on preschool sites.
→ Dagur Bollason from GBCI discussed what the involvement of administrative and planning authorities can be to better foster sustainable transport at all school levels.
Morning talk on Swan certification
31/05/2019
Agenda (presentations in Icelandic):
→ Guðrún Lilja Kristinsdóttir from the Environment Agency of Iceland (Umhverfisstofnun) discussed the Swan certification for Icelandic buildings in general. Umhverfisstofnun is working on Swan certification for the renovation of its office building owned by Reitir.
→ Finnur Sveinsson reviewed the experience of using the Swan certification both in his own single-family house and also the experience with the IKEA block that recently received Swan certification.
→ Björn Marteinsson from the University of Iceland (Háskóla Íslands) reviewed the energy solution that was chosen for Finnur and Þórdís' house (above).
→ Rakel Sif S. Thorarensen newly graduated construction technician, delivered a talk on construction waste in the context of a Swan-certified building.
Morning talk on Oakland EcoBlock
30/04/2019
Gregory Thompson is an architect and analyst at the California Institute for Energy and Environment, a subsidiary of UC Berkeley. He discussed the Oakland EcoBlock project, where the goal is to implement a holistic solution to dramatically improve the ecological footprint of the already built environment. The moderator was Halldór Eiríksson from T.ark architects. The meeting was held in English.
Gregory's lecture is avialable here.
Green Building Day 2019
11/04/2019
A conference on sustainability in the construction industry and planning was held in HT103 in Háskólatorgi. The conference was well attended and many informative talks were given. It was held in Icelandic with two presentations in English.
See the Facebook event here.
Presentations:
→ The Property Sectors Roadmap towards 2050 (in English)
(Katharina Bramslev, CEO, Norwegian Green Building Council);
→ Hugmyndir Byggingarfélags um bíllausan lífstíl
(Magnús Jensen, Architect, Miðgarðs byggingarfélags);
→ European trends in Green Buildings (in English)
(James Drinkwater, CEO, European Green Building Councils);
→ Sjálfsþurft
(Margrét Harðardóttir, Architect, Studio Granda);
→ Sjálf / bær
(Anna María Bogadóttir, Architect);
(Ólöf Örvarsdóttir, Director of the Environment and Planning Department of the City of Reykjavík);
→ Grænar lausnir fyrir byggingar
(Helga Jóhanna Bjarnadóttir, Engineer and director of the environmental department, EFLA);
(Jón Pálmi Guðmundsson, CEO, Urriðaholt);
→ Hvernig er að búa í vistvottuðu húsi?
(Finnur Sveinssson, Environmentalist and project manager of the first swan-certified building in Iceland);
→ Ný rannsóknarverkefni um sjálfbærar byggingar
(Ólafur H. Wallevik, Director of the Construction Industry Laboratory, NMÍ).
Morning talk on the experience with the BREEAM eco-certification system
21/03/2019
Agenda (in Icelandic):
→ Egill Guðmundsson, architect at ARKÍS discussed their experiences as ARKÍS took part in several projects including the BREEAM certification system.
→ Olga Árnadóttir, architect and project manager for environmental affairs at Framkvæmdasýslan, discussed the results of her Master's project: The environmental certification system BREEAM - Analysis of the adaptability of the assessment system to Icelandic conditions.
→ Karl Magnús Karlsson and Ólafur Axelsson from VA arkitektar discussed Hönnun á Sundhöllinni (the Design of the Sundhöllinn), which has recently received BREEAM design certification.
→ Elín Vignisdóttir, a geographer at Verkís discussed Consultants' experience in BREEAM projects.
Morning talk about ALDIN Biodome, growing herbs and green walls
07/03/2019
Agedna (event held in Icelandic):
→ Ræktun Kryddjurta
(Auður Rafnsdóttir, Author of a book: Kryddjurtaræktun fyrir byrjendur);
→ Gróðurveggir, gerðir, upsetning og umhirða
(Magnús Bjarklind, Horticulturist, EFLA);
→ Aldin Biodome verkefnið
(Hjördís Sigurðardóttir, Organisational analyst).
Morning talk on architecture, people's well-being and social sustainability
31/01/2019
Morning talk about the design of intersections for diverse modes of travel
06/12/2018
Agenda (presentations in Icelandic):
(Sóley Ósk Sigurgeirsdóttir, Skipulagsstofnun);
→ Borgin, áskoranir og framtíðarsýn varðandi fjölbreyttar samgöngur
(Edda Ívarsdóttir, Reykjavíkurborg);
(Bryndís Friðriksdóttir, EFLA);
→ Hönnun gatnamóta með áherslu á almenningssamgöngur
(Lilja Guðríður Karlsdóttir, Viaplan);
→ Hönnun gatnamóta með tilliti til hjólreiða
(Hörður Bjarnason, Mannvit);
→ Hönnun gatnamóta við þjóðvegi
(Erna B. Hreinsdóttir, Vegagerðin).
Morning talk about criteria for ecological construction
22/11/2018
Here you can find the lectures from the morning talk about the criteria for ecological construction. We had lectures on:
→ Rýmisnýtingu og sveigjanleika - Anna Sigríður Jóhannsdóttir, VA arkitektar;
→ Efnisnotkun og úrgang - Gyða Mjöll Ingólfsdóttir, EFLA and Elín Vignisdóttir, Verkís;
→ Innivist - Sandra Rán Ásgrímsdóttir, Mannvit;
→ Lóðamál og vistvænar samgöngur - Ólöf Kristjánsdóttir, Mannvit;
→ Orkumál og stýringu - Þórhildur Fjóla Kristjansdóttir, Green Building Council Iceland.
Conference on construction waste
08/11/2018
The conference on construction waste was a collaborative project between FENÚR, GBCI, and Samtaka iðnaðarins. The meeting was moderated by Bryndís Skúladóttir, a consultant at VSÓ ráðgjöf. The event was held in Icelandic.
Presentations:
→ Source separation and organization og the work on construction site
(Eirik Wærner, Consultant, Multiconsult, Osló);
→ Niðurrif og nýbyggingar – staðan og áskoranir hjá Reykjavíkurborg
(Rúnar Gunnarsson, Department head of Primary design, Reykjavíkurborg);
→ Getur BIM minnkað byggingarúrgang?
(Ingibjörg Birna Kjartansdóttir, BIM development menager, ÍSTAK);
→ BREEAM verkefni hjá Framkvæmdasýslu ríkisins
(Olga Árnadóttir, Project manager for environmental affairs,
Framkvæmdasýslu ríkisins);
→ Reynsla verktaka:
Eyjólfur Bjarnason, Quality manager, Framkvæmdafélaginu Arnarhvoli;
Örn Tryggvi Johnsen, Project and operations manager, ÞG Verk;
→ Endurvinnslufarvegur byggingarúrgangs
(Arngrímur Sverrisson, Operations manager, Gámaþjónustunni hf.);
→ Dæmi um endurvinnslu/endurnýtingu
(Harpa Þrastardóttir, Environment and quality Manager, Hlaðbæ Colas);
→ Reynsla úr norskum verkefnum
(Haukur Þór Haraldsson, Consultant, Verkís);
(Guðmundur Tryggvi Ólafsson, Operations manager of recycling centers, Sorpa);
→ Leiðbeiningar um byggingarúrgang
(Jón Guðmundsson, Professional director of the construction department, Mannvirkjastofnun).
Business Environment Day
17/10/2018
The GBCI' CEO, Þórhildur Fjóla Kristjánsdóttir gave a lecture on Eco-friendly structures on Business Environment Day.
Morning talk about ecosystem analysis and sustainability in the Greenlandic construction industry
17/08/2018
Agenda (event held in Icelandic):
→ Vistferilsgreiningar í byggingariðnaði by Gyða Mjöll Ingólfsdóttur, Environmental engineer at EFLA.
→ Sjálfbærni áherslur í Grænlenskum Byggingariðnaði by Ragnar Ómarsson, Construction engineer at Verkís.
Morning talk about transport agreements
01/03/2018
Do transport agreements work? From the morning talk of GBCI on March 1st about transport agreements (in Icelandic):
→ Reynsla Orkuveitu Reykjavíkur by Hólmfríður Sigurðardóttir, Environmental manager at Orkuveita Reykjavíkur;
→ Reynslan hjá Landspítalanum by Hulda Steingrímsdóttir;
→ Reynsla Reykjavíkurborgar by Lóu Birna Birgisdóttir;
→ Reynsla Verkís by Elín Vignisdóttir.
Morning talk on Græna Stíginn í Græna Treflinum
31/01/2018
Presenters:
→ Brynjólfur Jónsson, manager of the Forestry Association of Iceland (Skógræktarfélags Íslands);
→ Þráinn Hauksson, landscape architect at Landslag.