Nine Principles

Building Ways has developed a set of nine sustainable design principles which it promotes through its educational projects and publications. These fundamental questions should underpin architects’ design decisions, allowing them to make informed judgments about the application of the materials they use.

1. ENERGY
How can buildings exist without consuming energy and how buildings breathe

2. IMPACT
Where materials are sourced from and the impact of their extraction

3. ECOLOGY
How buildings exist with flora and fauna

4. LIFECYCLE
How long materials last, their biodegradability and afterlife

5. LIFESPAN
How long buildings last in relation to how much carbon was used to build them (5 year building vs. 500 year building)

6. MAINTENANCE
How buildings are maintained (and the availability of the skills and resources needed to maintain them)

7. ASSEMBLY
How buildings are taken apart (and how they are put together so that they can be taken apart)

8. USE
How buildings can be built for future unknown programme

9. PEOPLE
How buildings work for the people who inhabit them and the people involved in making them