The updated, joint declaration of the 3S Approach: Safe – Sound – Sustainable
The updated, joint declaration of the 3S Approach: Safe – Sound – Sustainable
What is the declaration of ‘3S Approach (Safe - Sound - Sustainable)’ and how it ensures safe, sound and sustainable buildings -– Founder and Coordinator of the Joint Working Group, Mr. Platonas Stylianou from Cyprus, Vice-President/President-Elect of ECCE (European Council of Civil Engineers)
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A very important initiative was jointly undertaken by the European Council of Civil Engineers (ECCE) and the World Council of Civil Engineers (WCCE).
More specifically, in the context of informing the public on matters concerning the safety, integrity and sustainability of buildings, in combination with the green policy and the importance of the simultaneous structural/seismic and energy efficiency upgrading of existing buildings, ECCE and WCCE collaborated to issue the updated, joint declaration (Manifesto) of the ‘3S Approach - Safe - Sound - Sustainable - The need for Integrating Structural/Seismic Upgrade of Existing Buildings, together with Energy Efficiency Improvements’.
Applying the updated ‘3S Approach’ to ensure safe, sound and sustainable old and new buildings is more imperative than ever, at a time when trends in the construction industry are adapting to the almost limitless possibilities that technology has to offer. The suggestion is that a holistic policy should be drawn up for the structural or seismic upgrading of the structural wealth of European States, along with the wider sustainable environmental upgrading, approaching the problem in a rational way.
It is worth mentioning that the initiator, founder and coordinator of the ‘3S Approach’ Joint Working Group is the first Vice-President/President-Elect of ECCE (European Council of Civil Engineers), Mr. Platonas Stylianou from Cyprus.
The Joint Working Group
The Joint Working Group of the updated, joint declaration (Manifesto) of the 3S Approach consists of: Platonas Stylianou (Coordinator of the Joint Working Group, ECCE Vice-President/President-Elect), Andreas Brandner (ECCE President Board of Directors - Austria), Aris Chatzidakis (former ECCE President - Greece), Dr. Jeanette Muñoz Abela (ECCE Board Member - Malta), Dr. Nicholas Kyriakides (Dr. Civil Engineer - Cyprus), Maria Karanasiou (ECCE General Secretary - Greece), Nathaniel Matalanga (WCCE - Kenya), Juan Domingo Yacopino (WCCE - Argentina), and José Francisco Sáez Rubio (WCCE Executive Director - Spain).
The joint initiative of the ‘3S Approach’ by ECCE and WCCE was presented on the 3rd of March, 2023, by the ECCE president, Andreas Brandner, during the International Conference ‘Engineering the Cities of the Future’ that took place in Madrid, in the midst of the celebration of World Engineering Day 2023.
Year of the 3S Approach (Safe - Sound - Sustainable) in 2020 by ECCE
Indicative of the importance placed, is the fact that ECCE officially declared the year of 2020 for Europe, as the year of the 3S Approach (Safe - Sound - Sustainable) by launching the 3S initiative which aims to raise awareness on this topic, in an effort to make an impact towards achieving one of the most important human rights, which is to possess Safe, Sound and Sustainable buildings.
The seismic risk of the existing building stock in Cyprus
It is worth noting that although the matter of large numbers of existing old buildings is common for most European countries, the parameter of increased seismic risk mainly concerns the southern countries, including of course Cyprus and Greece. In this regard, the representation of Cyprus and other southern countries on the ECCE Board of Directors has substantially contributed to highlighting the importance of simultaneous structural/seismic and energy efficiency upgrading of existing buildings, especially the older aging existing buildings. Therefore, for many EU countries and many others around the world, the structural performance and safety are intertwined with seismic vulnerability.
The importance of the updated, joint declaration of the 3S Approach
The updated, joint declaration of the 3S Approach will contribute to the gradual integration of the general European policy towards a green development, with incentives for the encouragement of structural and seismic upgrading of existing buildings and corresponding sustainable retrofitting.
Finally, as ECCE and WCCE state,
“The new trend nowadays is…smart financing for smart buildings.
But a building can only be called smart… once it fulfills the 3S approach “Safe, Sound and Sustainable”.
So, the World Council of Civil Engineers (WCCE) and the European Council of Civil Engineers (ECCE) would like to declare the urgent need to follow and implement globally the 3S Approach.