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Building Biology Series: 1. Building Biology – so much more than just another Ecolabel – Brighton

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Join us for event one of four half-day technical sessions on Building Biology: the science of creating healthy, life enhancing buildings. Held in conjunction with the Low Carbon Trust.

For eighteen years The Green Register have consistently introduced the newest developments in sustainable construction. In this time, the subject of healthy buildings has rapidly moved up the agenda.

With the construction industry slowly recognising that good buildings enhance occupants’ physical and mental health while those which are poorly designed can be negative for well being, we are delighted to be offering the UK’s first ever half-day series of training on Building Biology and so support members and other practitioners to deliver healthy living environments.

Building Biology is the holistic study of the interrelationships between humans and their man-made environment.  It is the science of creating healthy, life enhancing buildings. The Institute of Building Biology and Sustainability was founded in Germany in 1983 and from this the Building Biology Standard (Standard der Baubiologischen Messtechnik / SBM) was developed. This standard (most recently SBM-2015) gives an overview of the physical, chemical and biological, risks encountered in different parts of a building.  It offers guidelines on how to: perform specific measurements for other environmental factors such as indoor air quality; measure and evaluate electromagnetic radiation exposure and assess possible health risks.

A number of recent Green Register events have reflected our awareness of the growing relationship between health and sustainable construction and we feel there has never been a more appropriate time to present this course. Buildings today often contain inherent chemical, physiological and biological risks as a result of materials and processes employed by the construction industry in a drive to minimise costs and build times.  Simultaneously the UK currently falls behind European and International standards of best practice concerning the use of many materials.

The Green Register’s new half-day Building Biology Series offers a unique opportunity to learn about Building Biology to a level lower than that delivered by the longer, highly regarded and internationally recognised IBN Building Biology Consultant Course run in the UK by the Building Biology Association.

Our course is presented by Tomas Gaertner one of the experts in the field. Tomas is an architect, certified Building Biologist IBN and founding Director of the Building Biology Association, tthe UK Partner of the German Institute for Building Biology IBN. He is also a director of SE3Design a design led RIBA chartered practice specialising in human-centred, ecological and sustainable design.

The Building Biology movement is growing with over 6000 architects, doctors, surveyors, material suppliers etc trained internationally to create interiors which promote life within the built environment. We believe this course will be a fantastic way to gain an in depth understanding of all aspects of healthy building design.

All Dates:

The course is also being held in London on 15th and 29th November 2018.

On average we spend about 90% of our time indoors and 30% of our time in bedrooms. With these exposure times even low concentrations of potentially harmful substances can affect our health in the long term and cause chronic diseases. More vulnerable inhabitants like children and elderly persons are particularly exposed to this risk.

Event One: Building Biology – so much more than just another Ecolabel

More than 150 different ‘eco labels’ are currently in use in the UK for marketing of all sorts of products and materials – from household goods to building products and entire buildings. It has become a game of ‘Top Trumps’. The more we tick as designers the more sustainable our buildings, when in fact most of these labels are only industry driven sales tools with little practical benefit for the project or end user.

The building biology standard (ie SBM 2015) has no intention to add to this. This standard is all about the environment we create within our completed buildings. Designed around the 25 building biology principles and based on scientifically proven testing methods, the standard defines measurable criteria that allow to test whether the environment within our buildings is healthy for the end users. This session will outline the 25 building biology principles, give an overview of design strategies to meet this challenging standard, how other UK performance-, eco- and health standards compare and which of them are useful when assessing materials and products.

About the trainer:

The sessions are based on the content of the Building Biology distance learning course and will be delivered by Tomas Gaertner.

Tomas is a certified Building Biologist IBN and founding Director of the Building Biology Association, the UK Partner of the German Institute for Building Biology IBN. He is also a director of SE3Design a design led RIBA chartered practice specialising in human-centred, ecological and sustainable design. In 2013 he set up the first accredited UK Building Biology Consultancy and over the last few years helped the IBN to bring their distance learning course on healthy building, which they have been running for more than 40 years, to the UK. Tomas leads on the delivery of the IBN Course’s UK seminar programme. He is a regular speaker at the UK Passivhaus conference and Ecobuild, a fully qualified ARB registered Architect, chartered RIBA member and certified Passivhaus Designer.

Costs:

TGR / ASBP members:  All four sessions: £225 / Per session £65

Non-Members:  All four sessions: £350 / Per session £99

This event is held in conjunction with:  

With thanks to partners:

When
14/03/2019 from 10:30 to 13:15
Location
Earthship Brighton
Stanmer Park
Lewes Road, Stanmer
Brighton, BN1 9PZ
United Kingdom
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Event Fee(s)
TGR / ASBP Members - All sessions £225.00
Non-members - All sessions £350.00
TGR / ASBP Members - Session 1 only £65.00
Non-members - Session 1 only £99.00
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