Sustainability

OWA is committed to deliver the best solutions to comply with the highest standards in terms of sustainable development meaning that all materials and construction methods shall "meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" as the Bruntland Commission defined sustainable development.

OWA believes that when addressing sustainability three fundamental dimensions must be considered: environmental, economical and sociopolitical. Only then can sustainability be precisely measured and monitored. At OWA we aim to be at the confluence of these three components.

ENVIRONMENT

OWA believes that wood, as the dominant material of our designs and constructions, is precisely at the confluence of the three spheres. The use of wood in construction (with certificate of origin FSC or PEFC) drastically reduces the greenhouse gas, the dust and noise emissions.

According to a study that was conducted by fifteen U.S universities and research institutes known as the Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials (CORRIM), the global-warming potential of the steel-frame home is 26% higher than the wood-frame, and the concrete-frame home is 31% higher than the comparable wood-frame. Additionally, the researchers concluded that the bulk of energy required to build an average home is consumed during the manufacture of building materials - not during actual construction.

Timber has been found to have lower levels of “embodied energy” than other building materials such as concrete, steel and aluminium. Embodied energy is a measure used to assess the total energy input associated with a given material. This includes the energy required to manufacture, transport and install the material.

Research Report ‘Environmental Properties of Timber’, commissioned by the Forest & Wood Products
Research & Development Corporation

Over the last 35 years Chili, where OWA is based, increased seven fold the surface of its forests to reach in 2009 2.2 million hectares. Given that a hectare of Radiata Pine, the main species of softwood in Chili, absorbs 9 tons of CO2 per year and transforms it into oxygen, this situation has a tremendous impact both locally and globally. In addition most of the Radiata Pine forests have been planted in eroded land addressing another ecological issue.

ECONOMIC

On the economic level OWA participates in a new conscious behaviour towards the planet and the society. As such OWA embraces the changes that are happening in the construction industry which today consumes on an average 50% of the energy produced in developed economies.

By proposing low consuming energy materials and solutions our aim is to reduce drastically this pattern and contribute both locally and globally to accomplish economic development, while improving the quality of life for current and future generations.

As prefabricated assembling elements OWA’s offer a fixed time frame for construction which is especially short. Equally some of our designs permit clients to increase the surface of their buildings or houses by just adding new elements at any time of their lifetime according to their needs and this at very reasonable cost.

SOCIOPOLITICAL

The materials used by OWA are strictly selected according to their origin, nature and the kind of treatment they received. As such they must participate in the growth of activities that benefit the planet and the society: managed reforestation, harmless and natural wood impregnating solutions, organic paints, natural or recycled insulation materials, energy performance solutions, use of alternative energy,…

At the same time costly technology during the erection of OWA’s buildings and houses is discarded. All materials are easily transportable and can be sent to the most remote areas without special transportation. The use of specialized heavy lifting equipment ie. a crane is not necessary for the erection of OWA’s houses.