Further information Skanska AB www.skanska.com Contact Noel Morrin, SVP Sustainability & Green Support [email protected]
Case Study 95
Aspects of
Sustainability
This project highlights the following: Green Aspects Energy Carbon Materials Water Local Impacts Social Aspects Human Resources Corporate Community Involvement Business Ethics Health and Safety
Project Introduction
Adjutantti residential development is situated in the Mäkkylä area of Espoo, 8 km northwest of central Helsinki. The eight-story building contains 42 apartments and 3,168 m2 of residential space
The Adjutantti building is part of the Sustainable Urban Living project, which is a joint collaboration between Skanska RDN and the energy company Fortum, aimed at optimizing energy efficiency and developing low or net-zero energy solutions. For the Adjutantti project Fortum and Skanska
Adjutantti, Finland
Adjutantti is an energy efficient residential development in Espoo that is equipped
with a photovoltaic (PV) system and an innovative energy monitoring, control
optimization system, which was the first of its kind in Scandinavia.
the-art energy efficient elevators, and sophisticated individual apartment energy measurement, monitoring and control systems to optimize energy use. The apartments are also designed to promote healthy living environments, are water efficient and are intended to promote a long useful lifespan by being functional and flexible. The project contributed toward sustainable urban development, and involved the provision of electric vehicle charging stations and an electric vehicle for residents to use for one year. During construction, Skanska incorporated environmentally responsible materials into the project, effectively managed waste and fulfilled Skanska’s zero accident target.
Green Aspects
Energy
Energy efficiency
Adjutantti is an energy efficient building that is designed to annually use 83 kWh/m2 (70 kWh/m2
in heating and 13 kWh/m2 in electricity), excluding
household electricity. The building’s energy consumption is around 28 percent less than the Finnish energy standards. Adjutantti is an A class energy building as it exceeds the Finnish A class energy standard of 100 kWh/m2. The building’s
envelope is designed to have an air leakage value of 1.0 air exchanges per hour, although the building’s air tightness was measured as low as 0.36 exchanges per hour, which actually exceeds international passive house standards (0.6 exchanges per hour). Efficient windows with a U-value of 0.85 W/m2 were used for the building.
A local district heating system efficiently supplies
the building’s space heating and domestic hot water, and the ventilation system is equipped with the latest heat recovery technology. In addition, energy class A household appliances have been installed throughout the building and efficient Light-Emitting Diode (LED) fixtures have been used for the building’s exterior lighting. The building has an energy efficient KONE EcoDisc® elevator, which consumes around 50 percent less energy than conventional geared machines and 70 percent less than hydraulic machines. The elevator is equipped with a
regenerative drive that converts the potential energy from downward movements back into electricity that is fed into the electricity network. The elevator also has a standby mode and LED lights, which use around 80 percent less electricity than halogen lights and last up to 10 times longer.
Energy monitoring and control systems Each apartment has sophisticated individual smart home energy measurement, monitoring and control systems, which are designed to inform and influence the behavior of residents in order to optimize energy use. The systems allow residents to monitor their electricity, water and district heating use in real-time on a unique user touch screen that Skanska developed together with project partners. Residents can also monitor the system via a web portal. The accurate monitoring ensures that residents only pay for their actual resource consumption. The project team estimates that the monitoring and control systems will reduce the use of household electricity, heating and hot water of each apartment by approximately 15 percent.
The apartments have KNX building automation systems that include a home and away switch, which allows tenants to save energy when they are not at home by switching off all lights and select power sockets, such as the oven, washing machines and tumble drier and up to ten sockets in the apartment. The system also has the option to lower the apartment’s temperature by two degrees. Individual rooms also have separate temperature controls. The project’s follow-up research will include investigations into how energy consumption information can be best presented to residents in order to optimize energy efficiency. The building’s total energy use is measured in real-time centrally by the Building Management System (BMS) and can also be accessed through the web portal. Building managers are issued with the data that is relevant to them to encourage and promote efficiency savings.
Smart grid research
Adjutantti is part of CLEEN’s smart grid research project, which involves the development of a digitally enabled electrical grid that gathers, distributes and acts on supplier and consumer behavioral information to improve energy efficiency and reliability. The building’s smart
Carbon
Operational carbon
The building is estimated to reduce direct carbon emissions by 4 kg/m2/year, or approximately 12.6
tons/year in total (based on Finland’s electricity greenhouse gas protocol figure of 0.242 kg/kWh and the local energy company’s district heating figure of 0.113 kg/kWh). Although estimates can be approximately 13 kg/m2/year, or 41.0 tons/year
in total, if lifecycle figures are used (based on the Finnish average of 0.418 kg/kWh for electricity and 0.4 kg/kWh for district heating).
Materials
Environmentally responsible materials All materials used within the Adjutantti building exceeded the voluntary Finnish M1 standards for low emissions, which demand less than a total VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) value of 200 micro g/m2/hour. All timber used on the project was
environmentally certified.
Waste management during construction Construction waste was sorted on site into various fractions and over 95 percent of the materials avoided landfill. Materials were thoroughly sorted and combustible waste was sent to a local cogeneration power plant.
Apartment waste management
All apartments have compact sorting cupboards under the sink to facilitate the sorting of recyclable domestic waste materials. The building has central waste sorting and collection facilities that are served by specialist waste companies. Water
Water efficiency
The Adjutantti apartments are expected to use around 25 percent less water than conventional
Social Aspects
Occupational health and safety There were no accidents on site during construction and the Lost Time Accident Rate per hours worked was zero. The team followed Skanska’s standard health and safety practices throughout the project.
Healthy living environments
Glazed balconies and large windows allow natural light to penetrate the apartments. The ventilation system supplies fresh air to the bedrooms and living spaces, and removes stale air from kitchens and bathrooms, which promotes air circulation and good indoor air quality. Low emission materials and substances were also incorporated into the project to ensure a healthy indoor environment for residents. The apartment control systems and room thermostats allow residents to easily control and adapt their indoor environment to suit their specific requirements.
Functional and flexible building
The Adjutantti apartments are designed to be functional and flexible to meet the needs of various households now and in the future. The building contains a range of apartment layouts and sizes to accommodate various families and offer a greater choice and individuality for residents. KONE provided key chain accessibility elevator technology, which opens the main door of the building and calls the elevator. The key chain system is particularly useful for wheelchair users and people with prams. The building and apartments are of contemporary design and are equipped with modern IT, TV and telephony infrastructure. The apartments also have a large kitchen/living space to allow various apartment layouts.
Contributing toward sustainable urban development
The project reused a brownfield site that had previously been used for light industry, and consequently did not impact on greenbelt land or natural environments. The site is also located in a dense urban area in Espoo with good access to amenities and services, including the nearby Sello shopping center.
Promoting more sustainable modes of transport
The Adjutantti building has good access to public transport, including regular bus services and the Mäkkylä commuter railway station, which is 500 m from the building. The neighborhood also has good walking and cycling provision. The building has four electric vehicle charging stations, which are connected to the building’s electricity network and PV solar system. An electric vehicle is available to residents for one year through a car pool booking system (City Car Club – www.citycarclub.fi), as part of a project that is intended to encourage residents to acquire their own electric vehicles.
Economic Aspects
Regional construction workers and materials Between 90 and 95 percent of the project workforce was from the Helsinki region. Much of the construction materials were also sourced from the surrounding region.
Efficiency savings
The apartments use significantly less than the Finnish energy standards, which corresponds to financial savings for the Adjutantti residents.
Learning From Good Practice
The Adjutantti project built on experience from the Lindhagensterrassen project in Stockholm, which was also part of Skanska and Fortum’s Sustainable Urban Living initiative. However, Adjutantti goes beyond Lindhagensterrassen in terms of number of solar panels and greater opportunities for residents to monitor and control their resource consumption.
