Transparency In The Building Industry

As the demand for delivering healthier buildings grows, there is a greater need for transparency in building products and materials. Occupants of work and living spaces want to know more about toxicology of materials used like volatile organic compounds in paint and textiles, recyclability of wood and surfaces, and manufacturing processes of where these items were made and how. The desire to know where things come from and the impact on the environment and greater ecosystem is becoming mainstream conscious lifestyle choices. People are also now increasingly becoming more aware of the human plight and the human aspect such as Fairtrade so social fairness benchmarks are key indicators in a product or materials journey.

From a property developer point of view, we too are passionate in the design phase itself knowing the impact of our choices that then create the landscape around us and the ripple effect on the earth and humanity of the materials we work with and use. It is now at the core of our belief system at Chiodo Corporation to be able to identify building products that are healthy, sustainable and environmentally friendly and know the positive effect it is having rather than being driven by cheaper alternatives that are detrimental.

With global certification bodies such as LEED, The Living Building Challenge, and the Well Certification the building products transparency journey is a requirement. The two most widely used transparency tools are building product declarations; the environmental product declarations (EPDs) and health product declarations (HPDs). An EPD focuses on the environmental impacts of a building product throughout its entire lifecycle. An HPD discloses a building product’s list of ingredients and their known health effects.

Google sensing the global urgency, has developed an incredible tool Portico. Portico is an online tool and database to aid in selecting and specifying healthy building products and materials. Portico’s database of products allows architects globally to search appropriate products and it allows one to request additional information from building product manufacturers and manufacturers can also upload information on their products and share it with all users.

To create the world’s healthiest buildings being transparent is the key. As developers we can make informed decisions about sourcing environmentally sound products and materials, manufacturers will become more innovative and develop healthier products and occupants will know how healthy their spaces are. This is the new way forward in the building industry and at Chiodo Corporation we would like to lead the way.

‘Surely we have a responsibility to leave for future generations a planet that is healthy, inhabitable by all species.’ – Sir David Attenborough