Sustainability assessment and rating of Portuguese buildings

Abstract

Building sustainability assessment involves various relations between built, natural and social systems. Therefore it comprises hundreds of parameters, most of them interrelated and partly contradictory. To cope with this complexity and to support the sustainable building design, a systematic, holistic and practical approach is proposed in this paper. The main goal of this paper is to present a methodology for the sustainability assessment of new, built or renovated buildings that is adapted to the Portuguese context. This paper contributes to the evolution of generic methodology and international understanding by introducing an approach to take the traditions and social aspects into account. It is expected that the methodology to assess the weight of the social parameters will contribute for a more consensual and objective distribution of social weights. The presented methodology assesses the performance of a building within the three dimensions of the sustainable development (environment, society and economy).