The University of Navarra's Chair of Sustainability, which has been presented at the academic center, will promote awareness of the design of sustainable and energy efficient buildings, through the use of materials and the adoption of sustainable practices at Building.

The Chair, whose origin is in the School of Architecture but with the vocation of having an interdisciplinary character, wants to advance in the improvement of the connections between the companies of the sector and the University, since both share the desire of promote a more sustainable construction.

According to the director of development of the School of Architecture, Eduardo Domingo, "in this moment of maturity of the teaching and the research in the area of the sustainability, reached thanks to the Master's Degree in design and management Environmental of Buildings (MDGAE) and to some groups of research, the creation of a Chair of Sustainability that canalizes the training, research, knowledge dissemination and the demands of the sector of the construction in this area is raised ".

In order to respond to the growing demand from companies in the sector for sustainability specialists, the MDGAE was set up in 2010. Its director, Ana Sánchez-Ostiz, emphasizes that "the construction of buildings has a great impact on the environment due to the consumption of natural resources and the production of emissions, waste and discharges. Recent European directives, the Kyoto protocol and the national rules and regulations propose the adoption of efficient measures in the design and construction of buildings",

In this way, he explains, the MDGAE aims to "train experts in the field of environmental design , not only able to make certifications and energy audits, but to perform life cycle analysis of buildings, management of energy, emissions, materials and water, as well as the latest advances in building technologies". 

Grants and research

In this sense, the Chair will support the Architectural and Construction Scholarships Program (ACSP), which has already facilitated the training sustainability specialist to more than 15 students in its 4 years of life. It will also organize seminars and workshops on sustainability for industry professionals.

In this same context, different groups have emerged from research, composed of professors and researchers from School of Architecture, such as SAVIArquitectura, Getting Sustainability Cities (GSC) and the Facilities and Energy Section of School of Architecture.

The interest researcher of group SAVIA is based on the need to take care of the environment through design and the construction of sustainable and energy efficient buildings, as well as the rehabilitation of existing ones. Getting Sustainable Cities is a Unit of research Applied that offers the counties and municipalities the improvement of their problems and the enhancement of their urban and/or territorial possibilities, through criteria of sustainability, recycling and Economics of means. Insetsaun, for its part, focuses on the Integration of Installations and Energy in Architecture and Urban Planning.