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Foreword
Meanwhile  sustainable  development  has  got  to  a  place  in  the  building  and  construction  sector. Therefore  it  is  time  to  transpose  the  paradigm  change  into  practice  on  an  overall  basis.  Whereas  in Austria  energy  efficiency,  use  of  renewable  energy or  reduction  of  greenhouse  gas  emissions  were synonyms  for  sustainable  construction  we  can  notice today an increasing acceptance of the holistic approach,  the  necessity  of  considering  ecology,  economy  and  sociocultural  aspects  in  the  building sector simultaneously over the entire life cycle.  The  European  Commission  enforced  this  development  by  releasing  numerous  strategies,  directives and regulations such as e.g. the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, the Lead Market InitiativeSustainable   Construction   or   the   new   Construction   Products   regulation   with   the   new   Basic Requirement  7  (Sustainable  Use  of  Natural  Resources).  Parallel  to  these  mandatory  regulations,  a suite of standards (e.g. European standards for sustainable construction) and non-mandatory building certificates  particularly  in  the  area  of  office  and retail buildings emerged. This intensive supply ofinformation, however, leads to many more questions from clients and practitioners, especially on how buildings can be constructed and maintained in a sustainable way. With these facts in mind, we highly appreciate the initiative of CIB, UNEP, iiSBE and FIDIC of having established  the  series  of  SB  conferences  and  are  very  happy  to  host  the  last  one  of  the  central European SB conferences in 2013 here in Graz.  One  of  the  most  important  starting  points  is  the  sustainable  handling  of  the  existing  building  stock therefore  the  SB  conference  in  Graz  addresses  not  only  new  buildings  but  also  restoration  and refurbishment. Hence, we combined the SB13 Graz conference with the ökosan conference, which is normally  hosted  by  AEE  INTEC  (Institute  for  Sustainable  Technologies).  Ökosan is a symposium on ecologically  sound  refurbishment  technologies  and  best  practice  examples  and  together  with  AEE INTEC we have a strong partner, which offers the possibility to merge theory and practice. Graz University of Technology and particularly the Faculty of Civil Engineering Sciences acted always as  an  interface  in  technology  transfer  between  all stakeholders. Therefore,  we  do hope to contribute with  this  conference  to  a  knowledge  transfer  in  the scientific community, but especially with commercial  partners  from  industry,  planners  and  public  authorities,  in  order  to  realise  a  sustainably sound  built  environment  without  overflow  of  rules  and  regulations.  Standards  and  assessment  tools should be accepted as support and assistance, not as a restraint. We  are  looking  forward  to  your  vital  participation in  the  sessions  and  workshops  and  wish  you  a pleasant stay in the green heart of Austria.