The goal of sustainable development will be impossible to achieve without realignment of value creation by business arid the public sector. The environmental impacts of building activities are serious. There is a need for new competencies, better information about the environmental attributes of buildings, and suitable tools with which to achieve better eco-efficiency in practice. An aggressive commitment to developing and spreading the use of the Eco Profile method will provide a cost-efficient and attitude-changing environmental policy tool.

The LCA methodology [SETAC] is applied to buildings. The system limits, functional units and allocation principles are explained. Inventories have been established for 150 buildings materials and linked to the ECOINVENT database. Buildings are described on the basis of specifications which are aggregated to (cost planning)-elements. There is a catalogue of several hundred elements. Energy needs, costs and environmental impact are calculated simultaneously. Different views are possible (type of Impact. life time phase, element).

ATEOUE is a French working group created in June 1993 by the Ministry of Housing in order to harmonise and to facilitate the develop merit of tools concerning the improvement of building environmental quality (assessment methods, books of specifications, recommendations, etc. ... ). The methodological aspects play an important role in ATEQUE. ATEOUE is composed of the authorities concerned, and of 26 members representing all the categories of building professional actors (researchers, manufacturers, owners, designers, builders, consultants, service providers).

This paper gives an overview of duct leakage issues in Europe. A literature review indicates alack of ductwork air tightness measurement data in the member states. However, based on afew papers and above all on a field study on 22 duct systems in France, we conclude that theventilation and energy use implications of leaky ducts are large and merit furtherexamination. To this end, we have started the SAVE-DUCT project (1997-1998) aiming atstudying the potential implications of a tight air duct policy at the European level.

Trouble shooting air distribution problems in mechanically ventilated offices often has to be carriedout in limited "after hours" periods. The method of applying a pulse of tracer to the fresh air supplyhas been found to be too time consuming to map the local mean age of air over complex floor plans.In response an automated gas chromatograph has been developed to make air change efficiencymeasurements in real time using the method of homogeneous emission.

This paper presents the results from the monitoring of a low energy building, namely, the Portland Building University of Portsmouth - UK) during February and July 1997. The BMS Research Group at the University of Portsmouth has instrumented the building so that its performance can be compared with the predictions obtained at the design stage. The Building has been operational since July 1996 and the monitoring exercise commenced in January 1997. Sensors monitor air temperature, air relative humidity and slab temperature in selected areas of the building.

Perceived barriers restricting the implementation of natural or simple fan assisted ventilationsystems in the design of new office type buildings and in the refurbishment of existing suchbuildings have been identified in seven central and north European countries with moderate orcold climate: United Kingdom, Belgium, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden andDenmark.The barriers were identified in an in-depth study with structured interviews based onquestionnaires among leading designers and decision makers: architects, consultant engineers,contractors, developers, owners and governme