Four specialists analyze the challenges of sustainability in architecture during a roundtable at the headquarters of the Navarre delegation of the high school Official Basque-Navarre Architects Association (COAVN). The activity is promoted by COAVN Navarra and the Master's Degree in design and management Environmental Buildings (MDGAE) of the University of Navarra.

Speakers: Raúl Belloso, from BOA Ecoarquitectos; Blas Beristain, manager Sustainability Building in IDOM; Manuel Enríquez, from Barcos y Enríquez Arquitectos; and Ana Sánchez-Ostiz, director of MDGAE.

The roundtable aims to be a point of meeting and a forum for discussion in which the necessary incorporation of energy efficiency and sustainability measures in architecture, both in new construction and rehabilitation, is highlighted.

"The immediacy of this need is marked by the European Directive 2010/31/EC, which sets December 31, 2020 as deadline for all newly constructed buildings to have nearly zero energy consumption. This means that by 2015, each member state must set intermediate targets in this respect. The energy requirements of buildings will be determined in such a way as to achieve an optimal balance between the investments made and the energy costs over the life cycle of the building," explain the organizers.

Among other topics, the experts address the saving of material resources and energy, the reduction of environmental impacts (destruction of the ozone layer, acidification, global warming...) and the energy efficiency of buildings (reduction of demand and employment of renewable energies).