“When you talk about sustainability in buildings, you usually think about materials and energy consumption, CO2 emissions, waste generation, but you rarely think about biodiversity.” The first sentence of the report’Wildlife and buildings: a technical guide to preserve and promote biodiversity in new construction and rehabilitation‘ by SEO/BirdLife, which addresses the problems of the rich and diverse fauna and flora that man-made structures can host and the solutions to ensure them. survival.
Focusing on birds, the ‘other neighbors’ of buildings, the aim of the publication is to architects, surveyors, public administration technicians, contractors, construction companies, owners and any agency in the building field in general, integrate the conservation of wild species that use buildings as shelters or nesting sites.
Buildings have become the last refuge for some species due to degradation and loss of natural shelter and nesting sites.. Swallows, terns, or kestrels and many bats use buildings and infrastructures as shelters and nesting habitats.
Someone threats most important to them is the loss caused by these vital enclaves. rehabilitation, reform or demolition of buildings and not enough holes and cavities in newly constructed buildings.
In view of the promotion of energy-related renovations in buildings derived from the Upgrade, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR) and new regulations and new requirements for technological innovation, SEO/BirdLife developed the aforementioned guide and a web page called avesedificios. .seo.org.
Advantages of traditional architecture
This is followed by two tools Facilitate compliance with biodiversity conservation regulationsrelating to the protection of breeding, sheltering, wintering or resting places in buildings, not to cause significant harm to the environment in the works It is financed by funds allocated for the energy rehabilitation of buildings.
it should be taken into account that destruction of burrows and shelters is a violation of regulations for the protection of natural heritage and biodiversity. from time to time, it harms the authors and owners of the work due to its temporary suspension or even ban. Penalties and penalties.
SEO/BirdLife reveals both constructive and prefabricated solutions (commercial nests) to ensure the presence of nests in facades, partition walls, flat roofs, pitched roofs and overhangs.
Generally, traditional architecture is more suitable for biodiversity“compared to one”, as it has a greater number of holes or safe places, having both protruding elements and cavities and ventilated air chambers more tidy, orderly, hermetic and impermeable to the outside contemporary architecture“, collects the manual.
Therefore, the gradual loss of traditional construction systems means a reduction in conditions favorable for biodiversity. Among the degrees of intervention and considerations, SEO/BirdLife highlights the following:
Interventions on board. “They need to consider the presence of nests and shelters, their potential, and both in the resolution of elements we can find in flat and pitched roofs, such as eaves or air chambers, and in more specific elements of all types.”
Interventions on the fronts. “Special attention will be paid to both the presence of holes (cracks, locks…) and their possible access to interiors or rooms”.
Interferences with other specific elements (trees, fences…). “If there are trees near the building, the presence of nests or tree cavities on the trunk will be verified and nest boxes or shelters can be placed for colonization of other bird or bat species. Those indicated on the facade can be expanded. In addition to existing walls or partitions on the plot, especially if they are made of masonry, earth and/or masonry. to the periphery”.
Construction projects of new constructions and integrated rehabilitation of the building. “When a building is intervened globally, analysis will be made from all the above-mentioned aspects.”
Coexistence with urban fauna
Likewise, SEO/BirdLife considers it “essential” adapting studies to the enological calendar of the genre; that is, when the building is used as a breeding, shelter or hibernation place.
The most sensitive season for birds is breeding in spring and summer.. For this reason, the most suitable time for studies is autumn and winter months, when the presence of summer (migratory) species is also excluded.
If there are bats in the building, studies should generally not be carried out during the breeding period (April-July) and hibernation period (November-March).. In these cases, the best time in Spain would be the end of summer and the beginning of autumn.
When it is not possible to adapt the dates of the works to the phenological calendar, other preventive measures can be taken. establishment of physical boundaries (nets, boards, bricks, cement pellets…), forcing the animals in question to find another place to nest at that time “Placing artificial nests and shelter boxes in the surrounding area can be considered as a compensatory and temporary measure. ‘ says the NGO.
The guide also includes a section on ‘.Precautions for coexistence with urban faunaProposed solutions for “events” such as excessive weight of nests (stork), accumulation of feces, noise, timely displacement of tiles or deterioration of soft materials.
Among the recommended solutions are the placement of special elements that prevent droppings from falling into the rain gutters, the placement of metal constructions that will transmit the loads of the stork nests to the vertical structure of the building in a controlled manner, or the provision of adequate acoustic insulation.
The guide finally includes these tips: minimize the presence of wild pigeons; preventing the formation of shelves between them, or at least providing a certain slope, and preventing the formation of holes greater than 10 by 10 centimeters in size.
‘Wildlife and buildings’ guide: https://avesyedificios.seo.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Fauna-silvestre-y-edificios.pdf
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Contact address of the environment department: [email protected]