Sustainable Techniques for Building Refurbishment

This assignment analyzes the implementation of sustainable practices in a residential building refurbishment project. It examines sewage and waste disposal systems, addresses challenges with utility service maintenance, and proposes solutions to reduce carbon emissions through energy-efficient technologies like solar water heaters and photovoltaic panels. The aim is to create a self-sufficient building that minimizes environmental impact.

Running head: BUILDING SERVICES
Building Services
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
The purpose for this report is to develop an understanding of different sustainable principles that
can be used for better waste and sewage disposal. Proper and cost efficient maintenance of the
different utility services is also essential. Different solutions are provided in this report that
support the cause. Some recommendations are also provided that would make the building
energy efficient and emit low carbon. Thus, in conclusion, the residential building project will be
sustainable and self-sufficient.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Discussion........................................................................................................................................3
Drainage and Waste Disposal......................................................................................................3
Limitations of Existing Drainage and Waste Disposal............................................................3
Sustainable Drainage and Waste Disposal..............................................................................5
Maintenance of Mechanical and Electrical Services...................................................................7
Problems with Integration, Accommodation and Access........................................................7
Solutions:.................................................................................................................................7
Potential for Incorporation of Low Carbon Technologies and Energy Efficient Operations......8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
Reference List................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
Sustainable development principles are being applied to all new building projects and
even to refurbished building projects. The concern for scarce environmental resources is
increasing every day and thus the need for sustainable development has increased. The purpose
of this report is to understand the importance sustainable principles and its implementation on the
proposed refurbishment of an old primary school building at Edleston Road into residential flats.
This report contains an elaboration on the application of sustainable drainage and waste disposal,
methods for providing smooth access to mechanical as well as electrical maintenance personnel
and the importance of low carbon focussed technologies and energy efficient building
operations.
Discussion
Drainage and Waste Disposal
Limitations of Existing Drainage and Waste Disposal
The limitations to the drainage system that is currently in use at the old Victorian
buildings are as follows:
 The existing drainage system of the area disposes all the sewage into the nearest water
bodies such as Valley Brook. This sewage is mostly untreated and contains harmful toxic
chemical substances that harm the ecosystem of the water bodies (Hung et al. 2015). The
pollutants even seep into the soil and affect the groundwater resource. Groundwater is the
primary source of drinkable water in many areas and thus its pollution will be affecting
the population living in and around Edleston Road.

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 The existing drainage system does not provide any collection and utilization of rainwater.
It is a well-known fact that rainwater seeps into the ground to recharge the water table.
However due to urbanization, the soil was covered with cement to support civilization
and the storm drains dispose all the collected rainwater into various water bodies (Davis
2014). The groundwater is not replenished and water scarcity is observed in different
places.
Figure 1: Old Drainage System
(Source: Department of Environmental Conservation 2018)
The following are the limitations to the waste disposal system that is currently in use at
the old Victorian buildings:
 Landfill is the most common of type of waste disposal (Crawford and Smith 2016). The
waste is generally collected from the waste disposal units present at different curbs of the
roads and then transported to the landfills using trucks. The waste is never segregated.
Biodegradable and non-biodegradable wastes are dumped together into the landfill. This

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causes many waste materials to deal with. With the increase in population and an
advanced lifestyle, more waste is generated every year.
 Organic waste materials are sometimes incinerated to reduce the volume of solid waste.
Open-air incineration produces harmful gases like carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen oxides
(NO and NO2) and sulphur dioxide (SO2) (Kim et al., 2016). These gases not only have a
direct effect on the human, animal and plant life; they also have some indirect effects like
acid rain that causes water body pollution and structural damage. These gases cause
breathing problems and even lung and skin cancer among the people who burn these
wastes to earn a living.
Sustainable Drainage and Waste Disposal
These steps can help to provide sustainable drainage solutions:
 Sewage can be collected, stored and treated before releasing them into the water bodies
(Haghighi and Bakhshipour 2014). This would remove the toxic substances from the
sewage and would not harm the aquatic ecosystem of the water bodies. Direct sewage
collection channels connected to the households can be used and then the sewage can be
directed to a sewage treatment plant. The treated sewage is harmless as it contains mostly
water and very little amount of organic material that is beneficial for the ecosystem.

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Figure 2: Improved Drainage System
(Source: Department of Environmental Conservation 2018)
 Impervious surfaces do not allow the flow of rainwater into the ground to recharge the
water table (Ramamurthy and Bou‐Zeid 2014). Thus to increase the absorption, the
rainwater can be collected and stored with the help of rainwater basins and then absorbed
into the ground through a pervious surface. These would efficiently recharge the ground
water source. Since only rainwater is infiltrated into the water table, the quality and
volume of ground water will definitely increase.
Waste disposal can also be made sustainable with the help of the following methods:
 The building manager and the residents must take steps to segregate waste materials into
different categories such as recyclable and non-recyclable. Wastes like paper, glass and
metal can be recycled (Higashida and Managi 2014). Non-recyclable wastes can be
further sub-categorized into biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste. The
biodegradable waste would include organic wastes whereas the non-biodegradable wastes

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would include wastes that cannot be recycled. The wastes must be thoroughly separated
and then sent to landfill.
 It is seen money is the fundamental motivational source for achieving most targets. Here,
a particular system can be generated where the incentive structure can be generated for
those households who generate the least amount of wastes. This scheme will definitely
help reduce the amount of waste generated. A penalty system can also be developed to
for those households, which generate huge amount of wastes. This penalty structure will
also definitely help to reduce the generated waste.
Maintenance of Mechanical and Electrical Services
Problems with Integration, Accommodation and Access
The following problems are faced with providing the previously mentioned maintenance
services in residential buildings:
 Maintenance services are primarily outsourced to other companies as it is cost efficient
and the quality of service is ensured. Generally, the details of the electrical and
mechanical services are provided in the blueprint of the building. However, in the case of
old buildings tracing all the services is difficult, as most of the blueprints generally get
lost. The on-call personnel thus have to learn about the building first before applying any
maintenance procedures.
 Refurbished buildings often create serious maintenance risks, as the buildings might be
too old for any implementation of new electrical or mechanical services. It may also
happen that the existing services are dangerous to work on and that might result into a
fatal accident.

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 Residential buildings are prime targets for different criminal activities like theft and
robbery. These services are outsourced as mentioned in the earlier part of the report.
Thus, every time a different person comes for the maintenance. There has been a large
number of incidents where either the maintenance service personnel or criminals
disguised as them have been involved in criminal activities (Linn 2015). This creates a
huge security problem for the residents as well as the building mangers.
Solutions:
 The company to whom the maintenance services are outsourced to need to understand
that the security of the residents is of utmost importance. Thus, they must execute high-
level background checks before recruiting personnel in their company. They can even
keep dedicated personnel for the residential project at Edleston Road. The person would
be in charge of that project only. This means that time and work efficiency would be
achieved as he would not have to spend time on learning about the building every time he
visits it for maintenance.
 eMaint designed by eMaint Enterprises is a cloud-based Computerized Maintenance
Management System (CMMS) can be implemented that helps to develop high level
maintenance operations at the a cheap cost (Software 2018). This software can be used to
save time and money by accurately creating plans, organizing them and thus providing
efficient maintenance services to the building. It is very easy to use and provides multiple
language support so that most people can easily use it. Unplanned downtime can even be
reduced with good plan creating practices by using this software. It is also well known
that a better planning phase also means that better decision-making.

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Potential for Incorporation of Low Carbon Technologies and Energy Efficient Operations
Emission of Green House Gases has been a matter of concern for the environmentalists
for a long time. Technological aspects are being upgraded every year that tends to the reduction
of these gases. Building materials and utilities like electricity consumption emit a huge amount
greenhouse gases from every residential buildings and commercial buildings alike. The methods
that can be used to make the building efficient in energy and significantly lower the carbon
emissions are as follows:
 Using large glass windows will increase the amount of natural light that enters the
building during daytime. This would decrease the amount of electricity used for lighting
purposes during the day.
 Fossil fuels are usually used to generate energy for building heat generation and water
heating for general residential purposes. This heat can instead be generated using solar
water heaters. The hot water can be run through the building using pipes. This would
keeping the building warm during the cold seasons.
 Solar cell panels can be installed on the building rooftops that would help to generate
electricity for use. This can significantly reduce the amount of electricity drawn from the
grid. The electricity flowing in the grid is produced by burning fossil fuels. Thus by using
solar technology the residential project will be indirectly participating in low carbon
emissions.
Conclusion
Thus, it can be concluded that the refurbishment project can be delivered incorporating
the sustainable techniques for sewage and waste disposal. The problems with maintenance of
utility services are also discussed where some definite solutions were provided.

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Recommendations for reducing carbon emissions and at the same time making the building
energy efficient is quite a challenge but if implemented in a planned manner can make the
building to a great extent self-sufficient.

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Reference List
Crawford, J.F. and Smith, P.G., 2016. Landfill technology. Elsevier.
Davis, B.M., 2014. Contemporary Stormwater without the Green (Doctoral dissertation, The
Ohio State University).
Department of Environmental Conservation. 2018. [online] Available at:
http://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/90315.html [Accessed 12 Jan. 2018].
Haghighi, A. and Bakhshipour, A.E., 2014. Deterministic integrated optimization model for
sewage collection networks using tabu search. Journal of Water Resources Planning and
Management, 141(1), p.04014045.
Higashida, K. and Managi, S., 2014. Determinants of trade in recyclable wastes: evidence from
commodity-based trade of waste and scrap. Environment and Development Economics, 19(2),
pp.250-270.
Hung, C.V., Cam, B.D., Mai, P.T.N. and Dzung, B.Q., 2015. Heavy metals and polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons in municipal sewage sludge from a river in highly urbanized metropolitan
area in Hanoi, Vietnam: levels, accumulation pattern and assessment of land application.
Environmental geochemistry and health, 37(1), pp.133-146.
Kim, S., Kang, S., Lee, J., Lee, S., Kim, K.H. and Jeon, E.C., 2016. The comparison of fossil
carbon fraction and greenhouse gas emissions through an analysis of exhaust gases from urban
solid waste incineration facilities. Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association, 66(10),
pp.978-987.

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Linn, G., 2015. The Building as a Place of Work for Maintenance and Service Personnel: from
Interviews to Guidelines. NA, 9(1).
Ramamurthy, P. and Bou‐Zeid, E., 2014. Contribution of impervious surfaces to urban
evaporation. Water Resources Research, 50(4), pp.2889-2902.
Software, B. 2018. Building Maintenance Management Software. [online] eMaint. Available at:
http://www.emaint.com/capterra-ppc-building/?directory=capterra [Accessed 12 Jan. 2018].