STEWARDSHIP, ARCHITECTURE AND PROCESSES OF SUSTAINABLE BULDING_   INTERVIEW WITH RENEE GRATTON

STEWARDSHIP, ARCHITECTURE AND PROCESSES OF SUSTAINABLE BULDING_ INTERVIEW WITH RENEE GRATTON

renee-grattonDuring the Canadian Stewardship Conference 2013, held last September in Toronto, Canada, I had the opportunity to meet Renee Gratton.

President and founding member of RG Integration and Associates Inc., in 2011, she founded the Council CRI Council (Construction Resource Initiatives), a non-profit organization born to address building waste. CRI Council is the first and only Canadian partner of UNEP (United Nations Environmental Programme), of GPWM (Global Partnership on Waste Management).                                           

Renée Gratton is also a LEED® AP (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional), recognized industry sustainability educator, writer and advocate; Director of the National Zero Waste Council; member of the CSA Group Sustainable Building Committee, and past Director of the Canada Green Building Council. Her initiative Mission 2030 was the winning submission for the MIT Climate Colab Waste Management contest, and earned her a nomination for the CTV 2013-14 Amazing People Award.  Renée is also a sought speaker and expert both in regional and international organizations matters.

We’ve had the opportunity to speak and compare us with Renée about thematic related to stewardship and architecture, thanks to the interview that Roberta Pietrobono, specialized architect in processes of sustainable building and member of the Technical and Scientific Committee of STEWARDSHIP, Italian Association for Ethical Management of Resources, did for us.

 Annalisa Casino
President of  STEWARDSHIP,
Italian Association for Ethical Management of Resources
 
 
 

INTERVIEW WITH RENEE GRATTON

   

 Renèe Gratton

 

R.P.: What is the CRI Council?

R.G.: The Construction Resource Initiatives Council is a non-profit, non-partisan building industry led organization, founded to create an integrated body of knowledge and drive change in the way we view and deal with building resources and waste.The Construction Resources Initiatives Council believes that with an integrated design approach between stakeholders and making better decisions early in the design/build processes, we can dramatically reduce our overall volume of construction waste. We contend that it is theoretically possible to reuse, recycle, salvage, reduce or recover for energy over 95% of all Construction & Demolition (C&D) ‘waste’ thereby removing it from the Industrial, Commercial &Institutional (IC&I) stream.

 CRI Council

 

 R.P.: What is his the mission?  

R.G.: The CRI Council’s first step is to address the building industry’s wasteful trends. Our initiative is non-partisan and led by members of the design and construction sectors. It focuses on efficient resource utilization and engages multiple disciplines including designers, building owners and resource managers.

The CRI Council promotes generic, collaborative research and educates on the complex related issues, their impacts and possible solutions. We see “waste” as a resource and ask for a fundamental rethinking of how our industry deals with it.

Microsoft Word - Mission 2030 Abstract.docx

Mission 2030 was officially launched in Toronto on February 19, 2013, in collaboration with Ryerson University, and the Canada Green Building Council, Greater Toronto Area Chapter; and introduced throughout the year at a number of regional to international conferences, in Canada, China, Vienna, etc.

 Mission 2030

 

R.P.: Which is the relationship between Stewardship and Architecture?  

R.G.: If we use your organization’s definition of stewardship, the relationship between that and architecture is immense, because most things, including buildings start with a concept and its development. Just like we need responsible resource and waste management, we need responsible architectural, interior, industrial, structural, mechanical and urban design. 


R.P.: The system of environmental rating LEED®, represents a tool able to support sustainable constructive management. How could it be associated to Stewardship?   

R.G.: You’re right in calling LEED a tool but it is important to remember that although some call it a change initiative, which it can be, it has, like many other tools, limitations, but it can help stewardship process.



R.P.: Integration of Stewardship and LEED®:  which are benefits and limits?   

R.G.: Good question! They both have a long list of benefits but respective limitations. To keep it simple, I might summarize it in suggesting that integration of stewardship may benefit communities the most, driving specific regional programs, based on regional ability to change. LEED® is, depending on the what it is compared to, usually more advanced science based. It is also intended to have an independent 3rd party professional certification and is very rigid.   


R.P.: Does LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) represent an effective tool for responsible management of the product in all of his cycle of life? 

R.G.: Absolutely! 

 

R.P.: Can we talk about Product Stewardship for building materials?

 R.G.: Again, absolutely. This is something that some industries and regions have started exploring and in some cases putting into place. Not without challenges but a work in progress.

 

R.P.: Mission 2030: could the adoption of integrated approaches between LEED® and Stewardship strengthens the cooperation and the achievement of the Mission?  

R.G.: Integration is critical to the success of LEED® and Stewardship programs. However, our findings is that they both need much more for societies and corporations to change to a ‘ RESPONSIBLE’ status to begin with and eventually regenerative or restorative. Unfortunately, the problems of current social/environmental/economical systems driven by mindsets and learnt behaviors are so complex and now global, that we need more than integration and tools. Hence the reason Mission 2030 deals with Strategic Change Management, Integration/Education, Tools/Support, Research/Technology and Communication. 

 by Arc. Roberta Pietrobono
          Technical and Scientific Committee of STEWARDSHIP,

 Italian Association for Ethical Management of Resources

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