European Council

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ECCE's 3S Initiative

2020 The Year of the 3S Approach Safe-Sound-Sustainable

The European Council of Civil Engineers has declared the Year 2020 as the Year of the 3S Approach Safe – Sound – Sustainable. The official opening event of this initiative was held on 14th December 2019, at Nicosia, Cyprus during the 27th General Assembly of the Cyprus Association of Civil Engineers. Details on the launching event of this ECCE's initiative can be found here.

It is a basic and inalienable human right for everyone to live in a Safe, Sound and Sustainable home. For this reason, it is necessary to have first and foremost structural security in buildings and then structural sustainability.

Europe's engineers, and ordinary citizens alike, are wondering why significant amounts of money are invested in improving the shell of buildings, ignoring the static adequacy of the bearing structure of these buildings, especially in countries located in earthquake-prone areas.

The suggestion is that a uniform policy should be drawn up for the static or seismic upgrading of the structural wealth of European States, along with the wider sustainable environmental upgrading, approaching the problem in a holistic way.

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".

ECCE has launched the 3S Initiative aiming 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 (3S).

In this context, ECCE has published the 3S Manifesto in the beginning of 2020 and has prepared the Position Paper titled "The Need for integrating Structural / Seismic Upgrade of Existing Buildings, with Energy Efficiency Improvements".

The 3S Manifesto has been translated to various languages to facilitate the dissemination and enhance the publicity of the initiative among its members. ECCE's campaign on the 3S initiative gains ground continously as we acknowledge the adoption of these ideas by other European organizations.

Moreover, the European Commission's Joint Research Centre organises the side event "Seismic and energy retrofit of buildings" within the 18th European Week of Regions and Cities on 20 October 2020. This event will present the pilot project 'Integrated techniques for the seismic strengthening and energy efficiency of existing buildings', which aims to support initiatives under the Green Deal (e.g. Renovation Wave) and make EU regions safe and resilient. ECCE will participate in this event to explore possible ways of cooperation.

3S Manifesto

Executive Summary - ECCE Position Paper "The Need for integrating Structural / Seismic Upgrade of Existing Buildings, with Energy Efficiency Improvements"

Full Version - ECCE Position Paper "The Need for integrating Structural / Seismic Upgrade of Existing Buildings, with Energy Efficiency Improvements" 

The 3S Manifesto translations and the Position Paper "The Need for Integrating Structural / Seismic Upgrade of Existing Buildings, with Energy Efficiency Improvements" can be accessed in the Position Papers page

01.10.2020 :: PDF Print Page