Building environmental assessment according to BEAS

Abstract

Building environmental assessment is a specific complex of proceedings oriented towards systematic and objective evaluation of a building’s performance. These processes lead to the design, construction and operation of buildings with respect to criteria for sustainable development. In the recent years the evaluation of building performance in terms of environmental, social and economic aspects is a discussed topic in the Slovak republic. The purposes of building assessments from these aspects are due to the determination of real building states from a safety and reliability point of view, the possibility of building comparisons, the effect of environmental buildings potential and the proposal of measures resulting in sustainable buildings. In Slovakia the building environmental assessment system (BEAS) has been developed at the Institute of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Košice. The proposal of BEAS applicable in condition of Slovak Republic will be presented in this paper. The paper also presents the evaluation of selected office buildings in the phase of their conceptual design.