ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (EPI)

for the real estate and construction industry in Finland

✔ Life cycle planning

✔ Eco-efficiency
✔ Energy saving
✔ Life cycle cost
✔ Environmental impact category
✔ Environmental performance reporting
TOOLS TESTED
for the purpose of developing
environmental and life cycle expertise

A vision shared by the Finnish construction and real estate industry is that its
environmental expertise will represent the leading edge of international know-
how by 2010. To this end, a broad-based project called ”Environmental Perfor-
mance Indicators for Construction Industry EPI” was launched to work out a
set of indicators for the environmental and life cycle performance of buildings
in order to provide a basis for a high standard of eco-efficiency for activities in
the Finnish construction and real estate sector.
The EPI Project was carried out by the Confederation of Finnish Construc-
tion Industries RT in collaboration with Technical Research Centre of Finland
(VTT), other central organizations and companies representing the construction
and real estate fields. When the indicators were defined, due consideration was
given to the standards for evaluating the environmental impact of buildings and LAURI RATIA
building components, official regulations, directives, international conventions CEO, Lohja Rudus Oy Ab
and the national environmental strategy adopted by Finland. Chairman of the Confederation
of Finnish Construction Industries
The EPI indicators can be applied to RT in 2004

• manage and control building construction and maintenance from the project ”Practical application of the environ-
planning stage to final decommissioning mental performance indicators calls
not only for a strong commitment on
• allow property owners and contractors to carry out the environmental im-
the part of the whole industry but al-
pact calculations over the entire life cycle of the buildings
so for sound self-interest because
• classify new and existing buildings according to environmental impact cate- environmental and life cycle expert-
gory based on generally accepted rules to enable service life planning of ise is becoming an increasingly im-
buildings portant competitive advantage.”

• evaluate the inter-dependence between environmental and financial consid-

erations more accurately and to report on the environmental impact of the
activities carried out by companies.

The EPI indicators and tools developed in the course of the project will be tested
in several real-life building projects. To make it easier to use the indicators, spe-
cific instructions have been prepared for property owners, developers, designers,
contractors, the building products industry and the building engineering sys-
tems sector. The instructions give a presentation of the main stages and critical
interfaces of the process, including decision-making criteria. Calculation exam-
ples are provided to show how eco-efficiency is linked to finances.

The EPI indicators and tools complete with instructions are posted on the In-
ternet portal at www.rakennusteollisuus.fi/rem.

CONTENTS
3 Life cycle planning ERKKI AHO
4 Classification of buildings according to impact category Director, Senate Properties
6 Environmental product declarations for building products Chairman of the EPI Steering Group
7 Environmental performance reporting
Energy efficiency and life cycle cost ”To rank among the best in the world
8 Website in environmental performance, the
Participants in the Environmental Performance Indicators Project Finnish construction and real estate
industry must give real proof of its
PHOTO ON THE COVER: mastery of the eco-efficiency ap-
Residential project Helsingin Rantatörmä. Photo by Voitto Niemelä. proach and the extent of the activity.”
 LIFE CYCLE PLANNING ensures sustainable solutions

By means of life cycle planning, it is possible to construct a
building in a sustainable manner and thereby ensure that it
satisfies the requirements imposed by owners, users and soci-
ety throughout its life. In designing the structure, due con-
sideration must be given to the functionality of spaces, in-
door conditions, service life, adaptability, safety, easy access,
environmental pressures, and life cycle costs.
EcoProP is an Excel-based tool developed by VTT Building
and Transport for the planning and documentation of func-
tionality requirements for buildings. This tool allows the user
to assign requirements to three classes, the point of departure
being the current regulatory framework and the highest the
Eco Level.

LEVELS OF LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT

Corporate level, building stock level

Owner’s or user’s life cycle strategy, such as environmental indicators for the real estate business
• Life cycle strategies, environmental values, management and decision-making systems.

Property level
Life-cycle features of buildings, such as the environmental impact category
• Productive, usability, health, natural resources flows, emissions and wastes, risks, etc.

Systems and structurels level

Life cycle and environmental features of systems and structures
• Energy economy solutions, durable materials, adaptability, etc.

Equipment and product level

Environmental features of equipment and products
• Material selections, manufacturing process, recycling,
transportation, etc.e

3
 Environmental classification of buildings
The PromisE Environmental Classification System was developed for new production and
existing buildings. Specific criteria were prepared for residential, office and commercial
buildings. The weighting factors shown here apply to new buildings.

ENVI-
USERS’ NATURAL ECOLOGICAL RON-
MAIN CLASSES HEALTH RESOURCES FLOWS IMPACTS MENTAL
25 % 30 % 35 % RISKS
10 %

SITE
INDOOR AIR
ENERGY 35 %
OBJECTIVES
40 % EMISSIONS
40 %
INTO THE ATMOSPHERE
50 %

WATER 10 % BUILD-
ING
CATEGORIES 25 %
INDOOR AIR LAND USE
QUALITY
10 %
30 % SOLID WASTES
20 %

MATERIALS 20 %
SEWAGE WASTES 5 %
CON-
BIODIVERSITY STRUC-
AROUND THE SITE TION
MOISTURE 10 % SITE
MANAGEMENT 40 %
30 % SERVICE LIFE
20 % TRAFFIC
15 %

INDICATORS USED FOR ENVIRONMENTAL CLASSIFICATION OF BUILDINGS

INDOOR AIR OBJECTIVES ENERGY MATERIALS BIODIVERSITY
Setting of requirements and Target levels for energy Total use of natural resources AROUND THE SITE
related levels consumption Recycling rates of materials Soil sealing
Quality of design Heat consumption Space savings through the use Removal of soils
Quality of Supervision and Electricity consumption by the of communal areas (residential Value of building lot with regar
documentation property units only) nature protection
Objectives specified in property Management of in-service Occurrence of rare or protected
maintenance agreements energy consumption SERVICE LIFE species
Quality of acceptance inspection Design service life
INDOOR AIR QUALITY of the building Level of detail of service life planning TRAFFIC
Air exchange rate Adaptability Public transport services
Purity of inlet air WATER Vicinity of pedestrian and
Material emissions Quality of Water distribution EMISSIONS bicycle routes
systems INTO THE ATMOSPHERE Access to services
MOISTURE MANAGEMENT Measurement of water consump- Environmental impact of building
Quality of building-physical design tion (residential units only) components ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS
Quality of on-site moisture Environmental impact of in-service Cleanliness of the site
management LAND USE energy consumption Environmental risks posed
Quality of operating and Prudent use of land by building materials
maintenance instructions by making use of existing SOLID WASTES Environmental risks posed
built-up areas In-service waste management by refrigerants (shops only)
LIGHTING Use of existing services networks Waste management during On-site environmental risk
(offices only) construction management
Intensity and uniformity On-site health risk management
Prevention of reflections and glare SEWAGE WASTES
On-site rainwater handling

4 REM ympäristö- ja elinkaarimittaristo

An example of how Outcome of the assessment =X Target established =
to use an environmental Weighted overall grade A B C D E
classification report
USERS’ HEALTH

Helsinki City Housing Production Indoor air management x

Office ATT/ Helsingin Cappuccino Indoor air quality

Moisture management x
Using this Internet-based tool, it is pos- NATURAL RESOURCES FLOWS
sible to evaluate the main environmen- Energy consumption x
tal impacts of the building by means of
simple and reliable indicators. By as- Water consumption x
signing scores to various environmental Land use x
properties, an overall grade is obtained
reflecting the standard of the building’s Materials x
environmental features. The main crite- Service life x
ria used for classification are the users’
health, natural resources flows, ecologi- ECOLOGICAL IMPACTS
cal impacts, and environmental risks.All Emissions into the atmosphere x
in all, there are close to 40 individual
environmental indicators. Solid wastes x
Sewage wastes x

Same principle as applied

Biodiversity around the site x
to assessment of Environmental impacts of traffic x
household appliances ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS

Environments risks posed by the site x

By means of the PromisE Environmen-
tal Classification System, buyers or Environments risks posed by the building x
lessees can evaluate the ”environmental- Construction site
ly friendly” of the building very much
the same way as the energy performance
of household appliances. The top grade
”A” requires an extremely high standard
of quality. Only a couple of per cent of
all buildings in Finland achieve this lev-
el. An estimated 10% of Finnish prop-
erties may qualify for the second highest
grade ”B”. The lowest level ”E” is equiv-
alent to the standard required under
current building regulations.
The PromisE Environmental Clas-
sification System is a tool for marketing
and property improvement. Using this
system, the property owner can evalu-
ate the environmental performance and
eco-efficiency of his building stock, set
ambitious goals for reducing environ-
mental impact and to instruct the staff
in the environmental impact exerted by
buildings and ways of reducing it. En-
vironmental classification can be ap-
plied at any stage of construction from
project planning onwards, making it
possible to use it as a design and plan-
ning control tool.
The PromisE Environmental Classification System was tested in the planning
The Internet-based PromisE tool is stage for the office block project in Niittymaa, Espoo, currently being
available at www.promiseweb.net. contemplated by Skanska Talonrakennus Oy.

5
 Environmental product declarations
for building products
In 2003 the EU Commission initiated the preparation of
harmonized CEN standards concerning the environmental
product declarations for building products and the environ-
mental impact of buildings. Voluntary procedures have al-
ready been put in place in several countries based on the ISO
14000 series standards, etc.
Environmental product declarations and building life-cy-
cle assessments (LCA) have been made in Finland for about
5 years. For building materials and products, RT environ-
mental declarations will be available before the harmonized
international standards are adopted. To some extent, they are
also applicable to building services equipment.
For more details, see www.rts.fi.
of the standardized external wall structure
Performance:
u-value = 0,25 W/m2 K
Fire resistance class: REI 90
Use:
Residential buildings
Office buildeings
Public Buildings
6 REM ympäristö- ja elinkaarimittaristo
The environmental product declaration of a building prod-
uct lists its environmental impacts, such as energy consump-
tion, raw material consumption, emissions into the atmos-
phere, and use of natural resources. The declarations also ad-
dress the main environmental aspects, such as health risks and
recycling considerations when the construction work is in
progress, the structure is in service and when it is demolished.
The environmental product declarations make no judge-
ment about the service life of the products or place them in
any ranking order in terms of environmental impact. In-
stead, the environmental declarations seek to promote the
use of building products that have less impact on the envi-
ronment than equivalent products.
Environmental product declarations and public databases
are used to calculate the environmental profiles of individual
structures and these results are then applied to work out the
life cycle assessment for the entire building. Service condi-
tions and energy consumption are included in the calcula-
tions at this point.
The environmental profile
 Senate Properties has carried out a number of
pilot projects as part of the EPI programme.
One of the tasks was to complete the LCC and
LCA calculations for the Medi Project of
the University of Kuopio pictured here.
Service life planning
means looking ahead
Service life planning ensures that the structures retain the re-
quired performance characteristics throughout their foreseen
service life. The LifePlan Project carried out by VTT in col-
laboration with construction companies and organizations
produced an extensive service life and life cycle file for build-
ing products. Using this file, the client can now select struc-
tures and materials based also on as maintenance require-
ments and costs.
Guide for calculating building
heating requirements
The Building Energy Calculations Project launched by the
Confederation of Finnish Construction Industries RT was
carried out to develop a method for computing the heating
capacity required by various spaces. The calculation is based
on zoning with due regard to heat losses, preferred indoor
temperatures, internal thermal energies and the rates at
which they can be used.
Calculation of the energy efficiency
of building services systems
The Project for Calculation of Energy Efficiency of Build-
ings and Related Indicators coordinated by the Finnish De-
velopment Centre for Building Services Ltd (TAKE) is de-
veloping methods for calculating energy efficiencies from the
standpoint of building engineering systems.
Instructions and software
for computing life cycle costs
The life cycle costs of a building consist of construction,
maintenance, modifications and repairs, and demolition. A
calculation guide for LCCs complete with examples was pre-
pared as part of the Environmental Performance Indicators
Project. Additionally, a survey of existing LCC software was
carried out. The purpose of LCC methods is to support in-
vestors to compare the efficiency of investment alternatives.
ENVIRONMENTAL REPORTING
– instructions and indicators
A guide was prepared in connection with the EPI Project
providing guidelines for voluntary reporting on environ-
mental performance by real estate and construction compa-
nies and organizations. Typical issues to be addressed in the
reports include
• environmental policy and management system
• environmental impact exerted by the activity
(raw material and energy flows, emissions, recycling,
wastes, land use)
• environmental risks
• corrective action taken
• measures to ensure eco-efficiency in the operation and
maintenance of properties (owners, users)
• measures to ensure eco-efficiency in the construction
supply chain
• other environmental responsibilities.
The environmental report can be presented as a separate report
or as part of a broader corporate citizenship report. The envi-
ronmental report can be in a hardcopy or electronic format.
The indicators developed in the course of the EPI Project
can be used to monitor the company’s eco-efficiency. The
indicators are subdivided into three main categories:
Internal efficiency and expertise
• Environmental management
• Environmental impact of own activities
• Environmental training
• Expertise in methods to improve management
of environmental impacts.
Customers, stakeholder groups and eco-networking
• Environmental reporting
• Environment-classified products
• Requirements imposed on service providers
Profitability management
• Environmental investments
• R&D investments in improving environmental
performance
ELECTRONIC PORTAL
for environmental performance
indicators and life cycle assessment
The environmental performance and life cycle indicators devel-
oped in the EPI Project are now available in two sets on the In-
ternet. The files are grouped according to operator and product
hierarchy.
The EPI portal is found at www.rakennusteollisuus.fi/rem.
The extensive EPI Project
was carried out in close collaboration
with various players in the real estate and
construction cluster.
The project was managed by the Confederation
of Finnish Construction Industries RT and its
partners
Motiva Oy
The Finnish Real Estate Federation
Finnish Development Centre for Building
Services Ltd (TAKE)
The Finnish Association of Building Owners
and Construction Clients RAKLI
National Technology Agency of Finland Tekes
Wood Focus Oy

Also involved in developing the indicators and pi-

loting were the following companies and organi-
zations:
Are Oy
Finnforest Oyj
Finnmap Consulting Oy
Helsinki City Housing Production Office ATT
University of Helsinki
PWD Construction Management
EPI indicators according to roles in the construction JP Building Engineering Ltd
and real estate industry. Kesko-Kiinteistöt
Local Government Pensions Institution
Lohja Rudus Oy Ab
Finnish Forest Industries Federation
NCC Construction Finland Ltd
Oy Alfred A. Palmberg Ab
Parma Oy
Rautaruukki Oyj
Saint-Gobain Isover Oy
Sampo Bank Plc
Senate Properties
The Finnish Indoor Air Association
Skanska Talonrakennus Oy
SOK Property Services
VTT Building and Transport
VVO Corporation Ltd
Ministry of the Environment

For more information

Rakennusteollisuuden Viestintäkeskus Oy/Libris Oy 2004

about the EPI Project, please contact

EPI indicators according to the product hierarchy applied Project Manager Arto Suikka, M.Sc.(Eng.)
in the construction and real estate industry tel. +358 9 1299 290, mobile +358 500 500 131,
e-mail arto.suikka@rakennusteollisuus.fi

Confederation of Finnish Construction Industries RT

Box 381 (Unioninkatu 14) 00131 Helsinki
Tel. +358 9 12 991, fax +358 9 628 264
www.rakennusteollisuus.fi