Presentation

Save-construction enables the calculation and provision of customised environmental profiles for steel construction products and systems. Save-construction is a website consisting of multiple interfaces, each dedicated to a range of products or systems. You input the environmental profile that you want to obtain. After calculation, save-construction delivers the environmental indicator table of the configured product or system, in NF EN 15804 format (see the “FDES and EPD” section). The delivered data can be incorporated into building environmental performance software. 

Each save-construction interface is associated with :

• its joint FDES (Fiche de Déclaration Environnementale et Sanitaire [environmental and health declaration sheet]), drawn up for a specific product and incorporated into the INIES database, known as "reference FDES",
• its product range, in conjunction with the reference FDES,
• its computation rules, with adjustables parameters, enabling determination of the environmental profiles of the other products in the range, from the reference FDES.

Save-construction is an open system that can be expanded with additional interfaces to enable compilation of environmental profiles for new products and systems. 

The environmental profile of a product (or a system) is obtained in 3 stages.  

1. Product selection
   After logging in to your user account, you select the desired product category. Within this category, you click on the required product range and access the corresponding save-construction interface. 
    
2. Choice of parameters
   In this interface, you will find several parameters to enter, the main ones being:
   • the product brand name,
   • its commercial description,
   • its thickness,
   • the mass of related accessories (screw, nails, anchor bolts and stud bolts...),
   • the distance to the construction site.

   The first three parameters enable selection of a specific product from the relevant catalogue. Determined on the basis of manufacturers’ data, its mass (linear or per unit area) is displayed automatically. 

   By default, the last two parameters provide values related to the reference FDES. You have the option of modifying them to tailor the calculated environmental profile to your project.  

   The product’s Reference Service Life (RSL), taken from the reference FDES, is mentioned for information.
   You can now start the computation of the environmental profile. 

3. Delivery of résults
   After computation, each save-construction interface provides you with the following documents:
   • the FDES of the configured product in pdf workbook,
   • the table of environmental indicators of the configured product, in xlsx workbook,
   • the XML sheet of the configured product.. 

   These documents are available for viewing online or for download. The data output can be incorporated directly into building environmental performance software, using the XML file provided. The use of the EDEC gateway, from the SAVE results page, allows the environmental data generated to be sent directly, easily and quickly to the ACV Building software. To do this, all you need to do is create a free EDEC account. In addition, each user can find previously calculated environmental profiles in their personal archives.

In order to conform to the provisions described in the reference documents, it is important to specify that the configured FDES generated from save-construction can only be used for the products or systems of the beneficiaries mentioned in the FDES.

In the construction sector, one of the most practical applications of sustainable development concerns is the consideration of the environmental impacts of products and structures, both at European level and at the French market level.

In the case of any project, it is therefore possible to assess the environmental performances of a structure using the environmental declarations for the products of which it is constructed. The FDESs currently available in the INIES database for steel construction products are consolidated. Although representative of the extensive range of each product, these FDESs relate to only one product in the entire range: they therefore do not permit customisation and precise tailoring to a particular project. Save-construction makes it possible to meet this need.

The environmental declaration for a construction product indicates its environmental impact throughout its life cycle; it is compiled from a study conducted in accordance with the provisions of the relevant standards. These documents describe precisely the methodology to be employed for the collection and processing of information that is relevant, necessary, and characteristic of the product concerned: the product’s field of use, the product’s reference service life, nature and traceability of input data, representativeness of the sources at each stage…  

European standard NF EN 15804 is the reference document for the preparation of FDESs (Fiche de Déclaration Environnementale et Sanitaire [environmental and health declaration sheet]). 

In order to take into account the involvement of each player or user and to assess the impacts, the life cycle of every product is divided into five stages: 

NF EN 15804 : European standard for the preparation of EPDs (with its national non-contradictory complementary information)
A1 – A3		A4 – A5	B1 – B7	C1 – C4	D
PRODUCTION Supply of raw materials Transportation Manufacture		CONSTRUCTION Transportation Construction - installation	USE Use, Maintenance Repair Replacement Rehabilitation	END OF LIFE Demolition Transportation Waste processing Disposal	Benefits and cost outside the system: Possibility of reuse, recovery or recycling

View of product life cycle stages according to NF EN 15804 standard

The standard NF EN 15804 brings, in particular, progress in the addressing of the net benefits related to the recycling of a product at end-of-life. In fact, module D of this standard accounts for the benefits and costs, beyond the boundaries of the system, of the reuse, recycling and/or energy recovery of materials at the end of their life cycle. In general terms, it gives an environmental value to materials that will be recovered at the end of the structure’s life, by assessing their ability to substitute for raw materials that, in the majority of cases, have a greater environmental impact.

The data used for the FDES of each product come from: 

• the World Steel Association, which comprises more than 170 steelmakers from around the world (source region: Europe),
• representative bodies of the processing and construction sectors (CTICM, L'Enveloppe Métallique du Bâtiment, ConstruirAcier), 
• reference databases (ecoinvent, Team…).