The effects of sustainability development in high-rise buildings: A sustainability assessment on Limassol’s new tower “The Oval”

Abstract

The study summarizes the need for sustainable environment and sustainable development benefits for developers and the general public. European and national laws and amendments demonstrate the path that the governments wish the developers to follow, which is towards sustainable development and creation of environmental friendly and energy efficient buildings. The study emphasizes on the principles of sustainability, energy and environmental planning. Sustainable development seeks ways of making buildings energy sufficient, limiting maintenance costs, extending a buildings life cycle, suggests re-uses and restorations of buildings rather than demolishing them. Even at the demolition phase, a sustainable building can provide raw recyclable material and demolishing a building would happen only if the building is beyond restoration phase or to improve the already existing territory. Aim of the present study is to browse through various tools that measure sustainability for buildings such as BREEAM, LEED, SWAN, GSBC and distinct the proper one in order to produce an -accurate as possible- assessment for one of Limassol’s recent high rise buildings. For the purpose of this study the building selected is the “Oval” which is a recently constructed building, it is considered one of the city’s highest investments and one of the best and most expected high-rise office buildings in Limassol’s rental market. Therefore it will be an excellent candidate to assess and inspect if the developers in Limassol and Cyprus in general, aim towards the path of sustainable development for their new buildings which is also one of the general aims of this study. With the help of experts on the field a sufficient amount of data was collected that allowed the study to procure a non-professional sustainability assessment. It is essential to note that a professional assessment with credible results can only be performed by a professional assessor therefore the assessment created and the assumptions made can only be used for the present study’s purposes that will allow the study to assess the knowledge and expertise of developers in sustainability development.