September 28, 2005

Construction Corner

Tareq Ali

Holcim Foundation leads us along the path to future of sustainable construction tenets

Based in Zurich, Switzerland, the Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction was formed in 2003 as an independent, non-profit organization by Holcim, one of the world’s leading suppliers of cement, aggregates (crushed stone, sand and gravel), concrete and construction-related services, with majority and minority interests in more than 70 countries on all continents.

Foundation Mission

It is the mission of the Holcim Foundation to select and support construction initiatives that go beyond technical solutions to deliver greater sustainability and architectural excellence.

The Foundation encourages sustainable responses to the technological, environmental, socio-economic, and cultural issues affecting building and construction. The Foundation promotes innovative approaches to sustainable construction mainly through regional and global awards competitions and an international forum.

The primary objective of the Holcim Foundation is the non-commercial promotion and development of sustainable construction, at the national, regional, and global level.

The Foundation seeks to unite diverse ranges of global expertise together with the increasing awareness of its critical role in sustainability. Promoting best practice, pioneering fresh solutions, and inspiring young architects and engineers, as well as tomorrow’s planners, developers and contractors, to adopt new, sustainable parameters for all their building projects are just a few of its ambitious objectives.

The Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction is committed to the “triple bottom line” concept which asserts that long-term and sustainable progress requires the balanced achievement of economic development, environmental performance, and social responsibility. It confirms that the benefit to society in terms of environmental quality, social progress and well-being outweigh the efforts made to achieve them.

Construction forum

The Holcim Forum for Sustainable Construction brings together specialists at workshops to discuss and promote construction-related solutions to the pressing challenges of sustainable development.

These international ex-perts include architects, planners, developers, scientists, and representatives from business, politics, administration, and civil society.

It is the objective of the Holcim Foundation – in cooperation with its Technical Competence Center created from five of the world’s top technical universities – to establish the Holcim Forum as an international platform for professionals and specialists of many generations to promote interdisciplinary dialogue, bring forward new ideas, and examine potential solutions.

The Holcim Foundation, therefore, acts as an enabler so that – whatever their origin – exciting, important new ideas can be more widely discussed and assessed by a broader audience of specialists.

The Holcim Forum is an investment in education, innovation, and learning by doing – facilitating exchange of experience and knowledge of the factors determining sustainability in building and construction.

The first Holcim Forum for Sustainable Construction was successfully held in 2004 at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich). The theme was “basic needs” – housing, water, education, health care, and access to goods and services – the essential infrastructure for civilization.

The event drew wide attendance from renowned specialists from around the world, and also included promising international students from leading technical universities, representing the next generation, who were invited to share their visions.

The Holcim Awards for Sustainable Construction have been created to promote sustainable construction worldwide.

In a competition launched in November 2004 mainly in architecture and building trade magazines, including Daily Commercial News, the Holcim Foundation invited architects, engineers and other specialists in the construction industry to submit innovative projects that meet the challenges of sustainable construction.

Within five months, more than 1500 projects from 118 countries were submitted into a competition with $2 million (US) total prize money. The next (second) Holcim Awards competition cycle will commence in 2007.

Independent juries

More than 90 per cent of the submitted projects passed the formal check, leaving the expert juries a total of 1360 projects to evaluate. The projects submitted in North America have been evaluated by independent jurors in close collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston. The Head of the regional jury is Thom Mayne, 2005 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate – widely regarded as the “Nobel prize” for architecture.

Inspirational projects

Awards not only recognize and draw attention to excellence, they are a proven way to encourage and inspire thinking beyond convention and exploration of new ways and means.

The Holcim Awards recognize any contribution to sustainable construction – regardless of scale – in architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, civil and mechanical engineering, and related disciplines.

When submitted, projects must be in an advanced design stage though prior to construction.

This fall, the Foundation is awarding three main prizes, and additional acknowledgement and encouragement prizes in each of five geographic regions worldwide. The award ceremony for North America will take place on Thursday in Boston. For more information, visit the website at www.holcimfoundation.org.

Tareq Ali is the Manager, Strategic Marketing and Business Planning, Ontario Division, St. Lawrence Cement.

Print | Email | Comment