“How can we manage our environment in a sustainable way?” Although this – urgent – key question for the Delft Environment Initiative is simple, the answer usually isn't. The world around us doesn't stand still. We face challenges like climate adaptive building, drought and flooding in urban areas, increased security in our river delta while maintaining a natural environment, and the feasibility of reliable CCS.
Researchers in Delft are engaged in our environment in many ways. Within the projects of the Delft Research Initiative we bring their collective expertise together to – in cooperation with our partners – give coherent answers to the pressing issues of our time.
Improving the climate for the benefit of people, the environment, and the economy. That is the goal and the mission of the collective initiators, Port of Rotterdam, the Rotterdam municipality, Deltalinqs, and DCMR Environmental Protection Agency.
The Rotterdam Climate Initiative offers a platform for government, organizations, companies and citizens to work together on a fifty per cent reduction of CO2 emissions while at the same time promoting the economy in the Rotterdam region. More information on www.rotterdamclimateinitiative.nl.
Neighbourhoods are being transformed. Urban networks are being created. The built environment must cater to the varied demands of humans and the environment both now and in the future. Integrated knowledge of the development of urban areas helps to create a place worth living in.
In an urbanizing world, the challenge is to ensure that this process does not endanger the quality of life, economic vitality, social cohesion and mobility of our environment. We therefore have to create the right conditions for the future and plan sustainable urban areas where people can live, work and entertain themselves. This calls for multidisciplinary research along the lines of the work carried out by the Delft Centre for Sustainable Urban Areas. It is here that we learn to understand things like the housing market, planning policy, neighbourhood development, business activity in urban areas and leisure development: factors that will lead to the practical and sustainable renewal of our built environment.
The Dutch Green Building Council (DGBC) is an independent organisation aiming to fulfil a leading role in the transition towards a sustainable environment by inspiring and connecting organisations in the Netherlands that are active in that field. The council started two years ago and now has 150 participants (companies, organisations and government departments). The council gives itself four tasks.
- To be a platform for vision development, knowledge transfer and cooperation.
- To develop and maintain a sustainability label for buildings.
- To judge and certify building sustainability.
- To inform and stimulate involved parties to work according to directives.
To fulfil these tasks the council sets itself four goals.
- To get the knowledge of the parties involved about sustainable development of rural areas and sustainable construction to a high level.
- To make sustainability measurable.
- To make sustainable buildings be noticeable on the market.
- To get involved parties to integrate sustainability in planning, development, execution and use.
To achieve these goals the Dutch Green Building Council is developing a measuring system based on the British BRE Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) for the Dutch market. This system will be known as BREEAM-NL. In march 2009 the DGBC finished its beta version of this system. Currently they are testing this in ten different pilot projects. In June the pilots will be finished and the goal is to get BREEAM-NL 2009 up and running by fall this year.
The Dutch Green Building Council can be found online at www.dgbc.nl.
The city of Delft financially supports the use of bikes and bike taxis during SASBE2009. Delft strives to be a sustainable town; amongst others it has set up a project to reduce energy consumption for companies, will realize more nature and water in the urban area, and aims to reduce the CO2 emission in 2030 to half of the 1990 level.
BuildDesk is a consultancy company creating an energy-efficient and sustainable built environment by bringing together the skills and knowledge of our experts and external networks. We focus on sustainable energy, climate change and sustainability in the built environment.
BuildDesk has many years of experience. We combine in-depth technological knowledge with a thorough understanding of both local and national stakeholder interests. We look for bold solutions that enjoy broad support within – or sometimes even beyond – the confines of the generally accepted perceptions of what is feasible. And with targeted and relevant communication activities we support our clients right through to the implementation of solutions.
BuildDesk is an international organisation involved in projects around Europe. We take the inspiration and best practices we gain from these projects and bring them to work for other customers. Visit us at www.builddesk.nl.
There are many advantages to being involved with SASBE2009:
- Learn from cutting-edge research and latest market developments
- Use SASBE2009 for the education of employees
- Meet forerunners in the public and private market
- Meet potential business partners
- Meet top researchers
- Recruit young engineers and students
SASBE2009 will host an international audience of scientists, students, governments, provinces, municipalities, investors, developers, constructors, engineering and consulting companies, architects, urban planners and more, who all have serious ambitions in the area of sustainable development and who will present and exhibit their forerunner projects. SASBE2009 will therefore facilitate meeting with possible business partners, researchers and students who will be educated in the viable area of sustainable building.
SASBE2009 will be the ideal opportunity to demonstrate your ambition. Show the world your knowledge and attitude towards sustainable development. We hope you will attend the conference and propose a presentation of your own for the Sustainable Industry Day (more information here).
More information on our opportunities for sponsorships and partnerships can be found here 
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If you are interested or want to propose a personal or different way of becoming involved with SASBE2009, please contact Andy van den Dobbelsteen: andy@sasbe2009.com
The SASBE2009 conference is sponsored by Delft University of Technology and CIB, and co-supported by PLEA, iiSBE and CABA.
Information on additional sponsors will follow soon.
- TU Delft: www.tudelft.nl
- CIB: www.cibworld.nl
- PLEA: www.plea-arch.net
- iiSBE: www.iisbe.org
- CABA: www.caba.org
- RCI: www.rotterdamclimateinitiative.nl
- Dutch Green Building Council: www.dgbc.nl
- BuildDesk: www.builddesk.nl