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WSB News - October 2014

Complete Final Program available here
Please click to download. PDF file.

Renowned Professor Raymond J. Cole joins the keynote speaker lineup

22/10/2014 - Raymond J. Cole, Professor and former Director of the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, University of British Columbia, Canada, will be present at the First Plenary Session of the World Sustainable Building Conference, World SB14 Barcelona.

22/10/2014

Mr. Cole will accompany Albert Cuchí in this session under the title “Building facing global environmental challenges”. In it, and following the conclusions reached by the WSB14 “A Global Vision” Report, they will review the global environmental situation and its critical aspects regarding areas such as climate change, biodiversity loss and low energy availability. There are also environmental aspects whose local expression is also critical: water resources deterioration, soil destruction, excessive pressure on renewable resources, etc.
In his speeches, Ray Cole -who was also present at the Regional SB10 Madrid Conference in Spain - shows, using artistic and scientific means, how global warming is affecting our planet and how it will influence building design and our own lifestyle. The Professor holds that a sustainable human and ecological future won’t be possible considering improvements in isolated buildings’ design, but taking into account environmental evaluations on an urban scale.

Raymond Cole

3 Plenary Sessions, 3 Roundtables and 144 Sessions make up the programme of the largest global gathering of experts in sustainable building

22/10/2014 - With 144 sessions, in several slots with 18 parallel sessions in each of them, three plenary sessions and three roundtables, it is rather complicated to configure an visit programme to the most interesting presentations, personalised for each visitor.

22/10/2014

Conference organisers have made huge efforts to avoid Sessions in the same thematic areas to coincide in the same timeframe. Even so, it is more than likely that one must choose between the 18 options that the ambitious Scientific Programme offers.

Plenary Sessions will take place in the Auditorium, the first of them will take place after the Opening Ceremony, and the two remaining will be held on the 29th and 30th from 9.00 to 10.00 in the morning. Roundtables, on the other hand, will also take place in the central space of the Conference: the main Auditorium. The will take place each of the three days of the Conference, at the end of the day, from 18.30 to 19.30 on the first two days; and from 15.00 to 16.30 on the last

FIRST SESSION: Building facing global environmental challenges
Albert Cuchí, president of World SB14 Barcelona
Raymond J. Cole. Architect and Professor, University of British Columbia

Following the conclusions reached by the WSB14 “A Global Vision” Report, the global environmental situation is critical in some areas such as climate change, biodiversity loss and low energy availability. There are also environmental aspects whose local expression is also crucial: water resources deterioration, soil destruction, excessive pressure on renewable resources, etc.
Aware of these crises and their environmental importance, the building sector has started to power several actions to face environmental demands. Professor Albert Cuchí, President of World SB14 Barcelona and author of the Report “A Global Vision”, and Prof. Ray J. Cole will analyse these kinds of global challenges from the perspective of the question that inspires the Conference: Are we moving as quickly as we should? It’s up to us!

Albert Cuchi

SECOND SESSION: Is sustainability still possible? The role of the building sector
Paul Chan Mo-Po, Secretary for Development, Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Hong Kong.
Robert Engelman, Former President, World Watch Institute

In less than 40 years (2013-2050) global population will go from 7,200 to 9,600 million people. This increase, equivalent to adding up the population of China and India, will require habitability: new houses and non-residential buildings. A demand that can increase energy consumption in buildings by 50% and green house gas emissions by 40%.
In this sense the experience and the vision of Hong Kong has a strategic importance. Thus, we will count on the intervention of Mr Paul Chan Mo-Po, accompanied by Robert Engelman, who will provide his vision as the former President of World Watch Institute, as these topics were analysed in the last report by the World Watch Institute.

PLENARY SESSION 3: Global sustainable economy and sustainable building
Roger Platt, President of US Green Building Council
Arab Hoballah, Chief Sustainable Consumption and Production of UNEP/DTIE (Division of Technology, Industry and Economics)
.
The building sector is an impressive recipient of investment and generator of jobs: Covering the environmental demands of the building sector between 2010 and 2050 to reach the 2ºC increase scenario would require investing 31 trillion USD which would be recovered with energy and emission savings.
This investment would have important repercussions on jobs - different in each country or region: in developed economies, an average of 13 jobs/year per 1 million USD invested.
In sum, the building sector can and must be a relevant driver of global economic progress and our keynote speakers, Roger Platt y Arab Hoballah, will be debating the possibilities.

FIRST ROUNDTABLE: Beyond the critic: the transitional perspective applied to the building sector
Arab Hoballah, Chief Sustainable Consumption and Production of UNEP/DTIE (Division of Technology, Industry and Economics)
Yayo Herrero, National coordinator of Ecologistas en Acción, Spain.
Andreas Rudinger, Research Fellow Climate and Energy Policies, IDDRI (Institute du Développement Durable et Relations Internationales). France

SECOND ROUNDTABLE: Sustainable building and communities
Firdaous Oussidhoum, Director of International and External Relations at Africa Union Of Architects, Morocco.
Prashant Kapoor, Principal Industry Specialist-Green Buildings. International Finance Corporation (IFC), member of World Bank Group.
Julián Salas, ICCET (Institute of Building Sciences Eduardo Torroja) - CSIC (Superior Council for Scientific Research). Spain.

THIRD ROUNDTABLE: Economy, innovation and sustainable building
Marzena Rogalska, Head of Unit, Sustainable Industrial Policy and Construction; DG Enterprise and Industry; European Commission.
Curt Carrigan Coordinator of Sustainable Buildings and Climate Initiative at United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP SBCI).
Thomas Mueller, President and CEO of Canada Green Building Council (Canada GBC). Canada.
Keith Hampson, CEO of Sustainable Built Environment Research Center. Australia.

As well as all these unmissable Plenary Sessions and Roundtables, owing to their interest and highest level speakers which take part in them, the rest of the sessions will also offer a great number of possibilities following the areas of interest of Conference attendees. In the Conference website, visitors can take a look at the whole Scientific Programme, session by session, as well as viewing the itineraries suggested by different personalities and entities with their recommendations to not miss the most interesting sessions.

The Minister for Agriculture, Food Quality and the Environment, Isabel García Tejerina, will lead the Closing Ceremony of the World SB14 Barcelona Conference

22/10/2014 - The Ministry of Agriculture, Food Quality and the Environment has confirmed the participation of it Minister, Isabel García Tejerina, in the Closing Ceremony of the World SB14 Barcelona Conference, next 30th October

22/10/2014

The minister will be responsible for the magnificent finale to three days of intense work and exchange, where the main challenges that the construction sector must encounter in the next few years in order to reach the goals of environmental reduction and CO2 emissions decrease.
Before the Closing Ceremony, Green Building Council España (GBCe), organising entity of the Conference, will present the conclusions extracted after several days of work. Afterwards, the Conference will close, passing on the baton to the next organising entity. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food Quality and the Environment, together with the Ministry of Infrastructure, are PLATINUM sponsors of the Conference, and as such are enjoying a high degree of participation and presence in the global gathering on sustainable building. As well as their direct implication in Conference development, both ministries will count on a great exhibition and information space in the Innovation Fair which will take place within the Conference venue.
Furthermore, they will take active part in several debate sessions, where they will answer the questions posed by the Scientific Committee. These statements will become part of the Conference conclusions and will help define the building sector Roadmap for the coming years.

Isabel Garcia Tejerina

Register in the Meeting Planner! Only until the 23rd October

22/10/2014 - Registrations for the Conference Meeting PLanner, B2B, are closing on the 23rd October. This option, available on the World SB14 Barcelona Conference website, allows attendees to book meetings with other visitors, encouraging meetings between building sector professionals, without giving up other Conference attractive activities.

22/10/2014

To use this service it is necessary to be registered as an attendee of World SB14 Barcelona and filled up the registration form available on the website. Once the registration is confirmed, one only needs to look for the name of the person to hold the meeting with and book the date. Each date has a maximum duration of 30 minutes and each attendee can book as many meetings as they wish across the three days of the Conference. To date, more than 200 attendees have registered in this exclusive service of World SB14 Barcelona. If you haven’t registered yet, remember that the registration period ends on the 23rd October. From the 24th to the 27th October you will still be able to organise meetings. The service will close on the 28th October and only Schedule checking will be allowed.
More information on the Meeting Planner service and registrations at b2b.wsb14barcelona.org

World SB14 Barcelona, follow us!

22/10/2014 - GBC España wants World SB14 Barcelona Conference contents to transcend the walls of the Barcelona Conference venue and travel far, very far. Therefore, several distribution channels to share information have been opened, with Social Media as the main actor.

22/10/2014

The Conference counts on a wide presence in social media such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Youtube, through which the latest news has been shared with our followers, putting forward debate topics and disseminating interesting contents, aiming to start the great World SB14 Barcelona debate on these online platforms.
But we don’t want to leave it there. During and after the event, we want all ideas exposed, questions asked and main conclusions reached to go beyond, spreading like the seeds in the WSB14 logo. And we will count on the help of these communication tools to do so.

WSB14 images on Facebook
Do you want to peep through the Innovation Fair? See what our Keynote Speakers look like in person? Discover our session rooms? Follow us on Facebook!
Every day, our Facebook profile (@World SB14 Barcelona) will be filled with the day’s pictures, accompanied by information on the main sessions that have taken place that day and a forecast of the main events of the next.
Follow us on Facebook and share our contents!

Follow the speeches on Twitter
66 volunteers will help us give wider and better coverage of each and all of the 144 sessions that will take place during the Conference. Through their Twitter accounts, using the World SB14 Barcelona hashtag, these young twitters will become the eyes and ears of the rest of the attendees, contributing to dissemination of the reflections that emerge during the sessions.
Remember that the Conference hashtag is #WSB14!

Working on the conclusions in LinkedIn
The Conference LinkedIn debate group opened a year ago. A place to start working on the questions that would then become part of the Conference content. Currently, the group World Sustainable Building Barcelona is formed by 270 members and still growing!
Given the professional character of this community and aiming to extend the debate beyond the 30th October 2014, it will be here, in the Conference debate group, where conclusions will be shared and disseminated, once the Conference closes.

What about videos? On  Youtube!
All video material generated during the Conference will be shared through this social network where WSB14 Barcelona also has an account.

Cosentino Group and the Make it Right Foundation organise one of the sessions at the World Sustainable Building Conference

14/10/2014

14/10/2014

Cosentino group and “Make it Right”, the non-profit organisation, founded by the actor Brad Pitt and dedicated to the construction of sustainable houses for people without sufficient means, are organising a conference on access to sustainable and ecological housing for families with limited means. This will take place on 29th October in Barcelona.

The conference is part of the “World Sustainable Building 2014” Conference and is the result of the partnership established in 2010 between Cosentino group and "Make it Right". It will be one of the main events. The Spanish Multinational have donated their product, Eco by Cosentino®, to the organisation. It is a revolutionary surface made from recyclable materials for use in the bathrooms and kitchens of the 150 houses that "Make it Right" built in New Orleans after the catastrophe caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

It is precisely this event that started the Foundation. It was founded in 2007 due to the actor Brad Pitt's links with the North American city. His goal was to regenerate the area most affected by Katrina, namely Lower Ninth Ward. To do this, the Foundation took charge of the much needed construction of safe, energy-efficient homes that were accessible to victims of the hurricane.

Over the following years, "Make it Right" has developed into a non-profit organisation that constructs a great many affordable homes with high environmental standards. Architects such as Frank Gehry, Shigeru Ban and David Adjaye have designed houses all over the USA.  The Foundation also provides advice on innovative and sustainable methods of construction to other organisations all over the world.

As part of Cosentino group's commitment to social responsibility and the advancement of sustainable architecture and design, the company has collaborated with the Foundation on many different projects.  For example, in 2012 the company also donated Eco by Cosentino® material to the project that sought to reform and rehabilitate the Bancroft Primary School of Kansas City (Missouri). 

For Santiago Alfonso, Director of Marketing and Communication for Cosentino, "the partnership with Make it Right in the USA reflects our commitment to innovation and sustainable construction. For all of us this connection is a real source of pride. One has to bear in mind that all the products that Make it Right use in construction are selected according to strict environmental criteria that take into account sustainability and energy efficiency. They are also all authorised with the Leed Platino stamp of approval.

“The WSBI4 Congress in Barcelona is an unbeatable opportunity to inform our country (Spain) of these four years of collaboration. In this way, it will contribute to several of the most innovative and advanced housing projects that are currently under way worldwide as it will ensure the support of the most prestigious architects of our time,” concludes Santiago Alfonso.

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