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Abstract
To reduce the environmental impact of a building, integration of life cycle assessment
(LCA) during design phase can follow two approaches: use of a simplified tool, such as
Athena, by construction professionals, or use of a more complex tool, such as SimaPro, in
collaboration with an LCA analyst. The objective of the project is to evaluate the strengths
and limitations of these tools when analysing innovative timber buildings in Canada. The
results are based on a case study: a six-storey office building with glulam structure that
was outside prescriptive standard at time of construction. For Athena, possible
improvements include more flexibility, including a better control over the maintenance
cycles of materials, as well as more information regarding the uncertainty of the results.
SimaPro offers more flexibility and transparency. However, more processes representing
building materials in the Canadian context would be necessary.