buildings in design 7 in... · 2019-06-13 · and whole life cost (a+b or a+b+c) –diagram based...

carBon action 2050 White papers From the chartered institute oF building

ciob

Buildings in design

april 2011

introductionThe definiTion of good or greaT design will change wiThin The nexT decade.

in the latter part of the 21st century when the effects and

implications of climate change will be visibly impacting on our

daily lives, only designs that are pre-eminently sustainable and

environmentally responsible, while also considered alongside

other aspects of design quality, will set the standard and be

considered for awards.

The cioB recognises that building designers now encompass

not only the traditional design professions, but also specialist

sub-contractors as well as main contractors and their

in-house teams.

if building designers are to continue to have any real relevance

to our industry, there requires an open understanding that

designs which cut carbon emissions and increase energy and

resource efficiency will become an utmost priority. reducing

our carbon emissions is potentially the greatest challenge facing

humanity today.

1 Buildings in design carBon action 2050 White papers From the chartered institute oF building

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hM government’s carbon Plan, published March 2011, makes clear the UK

position on the critical necessity of carbon reduction, setting out actions for

both the national and international arenas. The national focus is on our power

generation, heating our homes and businesses, and finally our transport.

“Almost half of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions are from the energy used

to generate heat, with the vast majority of our homes still relying on fossil fuel

powered gas boilers and with much of our building stock still poorly insulated

and inefficient. There is a huge opportunity here, not only to cut greenhouse gas

emissions of harmful pollutants, but also for households and businesses to save

money, with the most significant and cost effective opportunities likely to come

from better insulation and from replacing inefficient heating systems. We need

to ensure that the homes and buildings being built now and in the future are as

energy efficient as possible, and the Government is committed to introducing

ambitious energy efficiency standards for new homes and buildings”

hM government carbon Plan, The challenge of climate change, page 7, March 2011.

in this section we consider the importance of design in reducing emissions

in the built environment. we also consider the steps that can be taken by

building designers and in a broader context, those involved in regulation and

procurement, to ensure the UK meets its carbon reduction commitments.

some of the leading resources currently available are also listed to assist

designers engaged in this process together with a variety of case studies

illustrating different approaches of current practice on various

building types.

The earlier we can achieve more progress on this agenda, the better

life will be for us and future generations in the long term.

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Buildings in design carBon action 2050 White papers From the chartered institute oF building

policy context

in order to set this chapter in context, it is worth

considering a few statistics:

• 47% of all UK carbon emissions are connected

to the built environment and construction sector;1

• The rate of new build compared to the level of existing

building stock is in the region of 1% per year;2

• This means that over 70% of buildings currently

in use, including dwellings, will still be in use in 2050;

• By this time UK carbon emissions should have been

cut by 80% against 1990 levels to comply with the

statutory targets;

• UK peak energy demand could outstrip supply

as early as 2017;3

• energy costs could rise between 15-60% within the

next ten years;4

• The zenith of oil and natural gas production could

be reached within the next few decades (the Peak

oil concept), and the resulting price hikes and

reduced supplies available could have massive

effects on our economy and society at large.

To meet the carbon reduction targets, building designers

need to produce designs that reduce emissions, are energy

efficient and are sustainable in the long term. Tools are

needed, for design, to confirm compliance and to

monitor post-completion performance.

however, this is against a backdrop of regulatory standards,

and economic factors. designers, contractors and clients

will rarely better building performance requirements

unless required or incentivised to do so. This is

considered as a driver for change later in this section.

Progress on carbon reduction needs to be made quickly

by the construction industry in order for the UK not to

fall further behind and lead to a very real possibility of not

meeting the targets at all. Unfortunately the industry is

not known for pushing ahead of the regulators, in terms

of innovation and improvement.

environmentally sustainable construction can be good

business. Those businesses that position themselves to

seize the opportunities presented by these challenges

will be among the first to reap the benefits.

scope

There is already a wealth of resources available on this

subject, produced by experts in low carbon design and

construction. This study doesn’t seek to reinvent the

wheel, but to highlight key issues, resources and tools,

and link these to a definitive action plan to galvanise the

industry to meet the carbon reduction commitment.

any design, however well it performs in theory, is only

as good as the implementation on site in the construction

phase. a recent government survey found that completed

buildings built to the 2006 Building regulations, appear on

average to perform 15% worse than the standard required

by regulation part l.5 low carbon design, combined with

low carbon construction, with excellence in both parts of

the process, is required. rigorous monitoring of building

performance post-completion is of the utmost necessity

coupled with aggressive enforcement of standards. This

issue is also addressed later in this section.

There is a tendency to focus on capital cost rather than

the long term life cycle of buildings operations. savings

generated in terms of running costs (i.e. reduce carbon

emissions = reduce energy costs = save money), will

far outweigh the capital costs involved in the measures

required. however as energy costs continue to rise to

unprecedented levels over the next few years, this will

hopefully begin to sharpen the thinking of those

procuring building projects.

Best practice guidance

design tools and guidance are contained in the resources

listed below. however, there are key principles which

building designers should use if possible to develop a

low carbon approach:

low carbon design principles:

• Understand energy use in the building type

• Use the form and fabric of the building to minimise

energy demand

• focus on insulation and air tightness

• Use high efficiency building services with low carbon fuels

•Manage energy within the building

•Use renewable energy systems

(riBa Principles of low carbon design and refurbishment -

climate change Toolkit, riBa sustainability hub

http://www.architecture.com/sustainabilityhub/sustainabilityhub.aspx)

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1 A Low Carbon Economy: New Business Models in the Built Environment, Programme

for the future of cities, University of oxford, 20102 Bell M., Energy Efficiency in Existing Buildings: The Role of Building Regulations,

centre for the Built environment, leeds Metropolitan University, 20043 The UK Power Generation Expenditure Forecast 2010 – 2030, douglas westwood ltd

energy Business analysts, 2009

4 The office of gas and electricity Markets (ofgeM), 20095 Research into Compliance with Part L of the Building Regulations for New Homes,

energy efficiency Partnership for homes & department for communities and

local government, 2006

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a low carbon design needs low carbon management, and

a large factor in low carbon energy management is the

understanding of the building managers and users, of how

the building should be operated to maximise the benefits

of the design. Particularly if there are sophisticated Building

Management systems involved. This has to be addressed

in adequate training at completion, with support provided

through manuals and helpline aftercare. Bsria have

developed a process approach to these issues called

“soft landings”, which provides guidance for designers

and building providers (http://www.bsria.co.uk/services/

design/soft-landings/).

responsible material selection and design

another aspect is to consider the whole carbon position

of materials and elements in the building, e.g. the emissions

created during extraction, processing, manufacture and

transport of materials and components for example.

as technology and understanding on low carbon design

improves, and building operations emissions reduce,

embodied carbon will become an increasingly significant

factor. a recent study has suggested that by 2019

embodied carbon will make up 100% of a new building’s

carbon footprint.

in terms of measurement this will be evaluated over the

building’s intended lifetime. so a high carbon material like

brick cladding may have a lower overall lifecycle impact

than other materials as it can last hundreds of years.

The true carbon position of a building is assessed by

combining the lifetime embodied emissions plus its

energy performance. Until we have reached a position

of assessment in terms of the whole life carbon position,

and this becomes the norm and expected practice, we

will not solve the problem the carbon challenge presents.

The project spend over the lifetime of a building is huge

in comparison to its’ capital cost, and review of the lifetime

cost can provide enormous benefits to building owners.


First cost

Whole liFe cost 1

Whole liFe cost 2

Whole liFe value

ddcBa

1 d

esign

10 c

on

sTrU

cTio

n

30-5

0 BU

ild

ing M

ainTen

ance, f

M

150-

300

Use

r’s o

PeraTing c

osT

s

300-

2000

Use

r’s o

PeraTing r

eTUrn

s

Diagram courtesy of

Alan Mossman, Glenn

Ballard and Christine

Pasquire – “Lean Project

Delivery – innovation in

integrated design and

delivery” 2010

Figure 5: understanding value in design: output value (d) in relation to first cost (a+design cost)

and whole life cost (a+B or a+B+c) – diagram based on an idea from don ward, constructing excellence

& anne King, Bsria, data from evans et al (1998), hughes et al (2004), ive (2006) and others

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it is much more cost effective to design out waste actually

in the design process. so designers should consider the

materials and components they intend to use in their

projects, module sizes for example, and design around

those criteria. cutting on site produces waste together

with additional safety hazards and should be designed

out – less waste on site means hazards minimised and

overheads reduced.

consideration of site operations is reviewed in the Buildings

in Construction section. however, one aspect of this is early

connection to the permanent energy connection during the

construction phase. where appropriate, the use of the

national grid has the potential to reduce co2 emissions

because the use of diesel for powering generators is

significantly reduced. connecting to the local energy source

(e.g. local combined heat and power) is even better as an

energy efficient supply. Building designers and construction

programmers need to consider this, so that buildings are

easier to connect to the permanent supply earlier. This

approach can offer significant savings and improve site

safety through less reliance on temporary supplies.

assessment

critical to the design process is the assessment of carbon

emissions that a design produces. The ability to reassess

dynamically during the design process and post completion

is extremely important. as the use of Building information

Modelling (BiM) gains acceptance in the UK, an added

function of these systems is a carbon assessment tool to

aid the designer.

for example, autodesk has the ecotect and green Building

studio tools which complement the revit design software.

equally important is the feedback and analysis of monitoring

from completed buildings which can be fed into the design

of projects as lessons are learned.

offsite

offsite manufacture is a useful technique which can improve

quality, reduce waste and minimise time on site. however

this imposes a discipline on the designer to maximise its

efficiency and cost effectiveness as a solution through

repetition of standard forms and components.

depending on the type of off-site manufacture to be

adopted, (modular, flat pack, volumetric, structural insulated

panels[siPs]etc.), then the designer needs to understand the

system, and its attributes in order to get the best out of it

for the project. likewise this applies to the client, as not

all projects will lend themselves to this approach, and

prefabrication could have an impact on aesthetics and

the quality of spaces achieved. however, where volume

manufacturing and standardisation are acceptable then

off site modular will prove effective.

the Big hitters…

so what can we do now and in the next few years to

make an impact on these targets?

Proposed actions can be summarised as follows:

• Better enforcement of current regulations

• Better regulation in the medium term

• retrofit programme

• lifecycle assessment

• leadership

Better enforcement of current regulations

The update on Parts l1 and l2 of the Building regulations,

october 2010 requires design stage and completion stage

sBeM calculations to be submitted for approval to ensure

that the designed and as built performance correlate. There

will inevitably be pressure to relent on this and this needs

to be resisted, to ensure that at least the design emissions

rates are achieved.

final Building regulations approval and consequent

occupation certificates should be withheld until the

building complies with its emissions as designed. clients,

design teams, and contractors should collectively be

held responsible on this issue.

The requirements under the european energy Performance

of Buildings directive and f gas regulations are not

being enforced. The requirement is for inspection of air

conditioning systems installed from 2008 onwards and all

systems above 12kw must be inspected by January 2011.

recommendations from the inspections include how

the systems can be run more efficiently to save money

and reduce carbon emissions. a recent inspection on

eland house in london, identified savings such that the

cost of the survey was repaid within five months with

further efficiencies identified.

sales data from the air conditioning industry suggests that

over 1 million air conditioning units of all sizes were sold

between 1995 and 2009, and only a very small percentage

have been subject to inspection under the regulations. The

implication from this is that the majority of ac systems in

the UK are not operating to their design parameters and

therefore energy is being wasted, and more carbon emissions

are being generated needlessly, compounding the problem.

These are examples of current legislation that should

be rigorously enforced. resources need to be committed

to enforcement to ensure compliance. This will entail

strengthening la Building control teams, and ensuring that

approved inspectors also uphold the standards rigorously.


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Better regulation in the medium term

The technology exists now to produce buildings that

perform in excess of the revised regulations as they stand

today, in terms of carbon emissions.

Blatant inconsistencies in current regulations are the transition

arrangements that come into effect when Part l is updated.

The number of Building notices submitted became an

avalanche prior to october 1st 2010, for the current update,

resulting in projects that can be built to the 2006 regulations

in 2012 and 13! we will not catch up on carbon reduction if

this continues, as projects teams naturally will continue to

exploit the loopholes presented to them by legislators.

Transition arrangements should be reduced, and the guillotine

dropped at a given date, with adequate warning beforehand

of an improvement in regulations. in the mid 1990’s running

up to the major revision to thermal regulations, some

sections of the industry campaigned against the changes,

but soon fell into line, miraculously finding the technologies

and materials to comply with the new regulations within a

relatively short space of time. it can be done!

Passivhaus as an environmental strategy has gained

prominence recently. it is an approach based on passive

strategies e.g. orientation, control of solar gain, very low

U values, and very low air leakage.

The pace of change of Building regulations will have to

be accelerated to either adopt Passivhaus standards or

their equivalent as quickly as possible to achieve the

carbon reduction commitment.

design guides and criteria should be based on Building

regulations, with appropriate levels of enforcement, and

also consistent use of post-occupancy evaluation. Building

owners and end users have much to contribute as they

manage and operate the buildings designed and constructed

by the industry. carbon can be reduced in operation

sometimes simply by better management of the building

and its energy systems. as a consequence there are

immense opportunities for informing and training clients,

designers and end users. The cioB supports and endorses

the Building regulations, and we support the incorporation

of codes and guidelines within the regulations, such as the

code for sustainable homes, and Passivhaus for example.

legislation however, is only part of the required mechanism.

with the stick, there needs to be some encouragement.

Building owners and occupiers need to be incentivised by

government to push their designers and contractors to

achieve these standards. financial incentives, tax breaks

and grants will need to be put in place to provide a positive

impetus to these initiatives to balance the regulatory

requirements. we have already seen incentives such as

the feed in Tariff, and recently the coalition government

has put in place the green deal.

retrofit programme

however from the statistics above it can be seen that new

build projects are going to have little impact on achieving

the overall carbon targets. Most of the buildings in use today

will still be standing in 2050.

a comprehensive and major programme of retrofit works

will be required across the UK. This will have to be across

all sectors and building types but is unavoidable if the targets

are to be achieved. a programme of this magnitude will be

a massive undertaking and probably unparalleled but will

provide thousands of jobs in the construction sector

and opportunities for young people and small/medium

enterprises.

The recent constructionskills initiative “cut the carbon”

exactly addresses these issues. a retrofit programme would

also require financial incentives for buildings owners as

above. The programme would provide jobs, profitable

activity for businesses, benefitting the UK economy and

aiding the recovery.

lifecycle carbon position

There is a value proposition which can be built around

long term value created by energy saving measures

balanced against the capital cost necessary. This arises out

of understanding the long term operations costs compared

to the capital cost of the project, achieved by modelling

of lifetime emissions, energy consumption and costs.

discussions around this should occur early in the design

process, to enable the best design decisions to be made

for the benefit of the client and the environment.

BreeaM as a measure of sustainability is extremely useful

but should not be treated merely as a tick box exercise,

and needs to be used sensibly as a tool for reducing carbon

emissions, although that isn’t the prime purpose of the tool.

it is reported that an award winning BreeaM excellent

building in the city of london, whilst having a biomass

boiler, has its wood chip fuel imported from scotland.

hardly a responsible approach to carbon reduction,

even though it has the BreeaM rating!

Undoubtedly new technologies, products and systems will

continue to be developed which will impact on these issues.

design guidance will need to be re-evaluated regularly to

take advantage of the opportunities these will present

if all buildings were evaluated on a whole life basis and

reviewed regularly then this would encourage more long

term thinking about the lifetime carbon and energy position

of buildings rather than the short termism of pure capital

cost. a review every few years on the carbon and energy

efficiency of buildings with potential penalties would focus

the attention of building owners and users.


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leadership

These issues really come down to a question of will and

commitment. either these targets set by government in

the carbon Transition Plan are to be taken seriously, or

they’re not!

if the science on climate change is to be believed together

with the trends on resources availability and energy prices,

then the government and leading figures in our industry

need to stand up and promote the unpalatable truths

and move our sector forward on this. actions that will

eventually have real impact on these issues are many

years in the making, and we are already falling behind.

The cioB wants to play its part, which has led to the

production of the carbonaction2050 toolkit, in order to

provide guidance and leadership to the construction sector.

from a government perspective, the correct regulatory

and financial frameworks need to be in place. Public sector

procurement could also assist in this process by promoting

best practice compliance, rewarding the best businesses

with more work and contracts at the expense of the

worst performers.

The time has come when we simply cannot let ourselves

off the hook on this any longer. The challenge and targets

are real and cannot be avoided.

rigorous enforcement of current regulations, accelerated

improvement in standards, initiation of a comprehensive

retrofit programme, energised by dynamic leadership

on these issues will enable the UK to achieve the 80%

reduction.

case studies

Below are referenced case studies of various projects in

various sectors, both new build and retro-fit, which

demonstrate best practice in low carbon design:

housing

• Zerocarbon house Birmingham

• eastcliff houses

• retrofit house

• Passivhaus standard windows

• denby dale Passivhaus

office

• Passivhaus office, Powys

school

• southwark Primary, capita architecture

• dcsf case study, capita architecture

general

• embedded carbon

• Passivhaus articles

a collection of case studies by capita architecture

which include schools, an auditorium, a university, a college,

housing, a hospital, an academy and some laboratories/

technical buildings.

Websites with case studies

riBa:

http://www.architecture.com/sustainabilityhub/casestudies

/casestudies-launchpage.aspx

• Medical – Bamburgh clinic

• Technology – cTU

• offices – elizabeth ii court

• infrastructure – garscube landscape lin

• Mixed use – royal Botanic gardens

• retail – sainsbury’s dartmouth

• Mixed use – stonebridge

• offices – wessex water

ice: http://www.ice.org.uk/topics/environment

info and case studies

• heathrow Terminal 5

• deconstruction

• recycling

w-gBc: http://www.worldgbc.org/resources/case-studies

• international project case studies covering australia,

canada, emirates, germany, india, Japan, new Zealand,

chinese Taipei, United states

useFul reFerences and guidance

design resources

climate change toolkit, riBa sustainability hub

http://www.architecture.com/sustainabilityhub/

sustainabilityhub.aspx -

(Parts 1 – 8, useful resource which provides background,

overview and guidance - useful one stop shop, sections cover:

climate change Briefing, carbon literacy Briefing,

Principles of low carbon design and refurbishment, low

carbon standards and assessment Methods, low carbon

design Tools, skills for low carbon Buildings, designing for

flood risk, whole life assessment for low carbon design)

rough guide to sustainability, 3rd edition, Brian

edwards, riBa Publishing 2010 (covers, theory, legislation,

tools and techniques, construction resources and design.)


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uK green Building council - UK-gBc -

www.ukgbc.org/sustainability

passivhaus – www.passivhaus.org.uk

the environmental handbook,

www.theenvironmentalhandbook.com

feilden clegg Bradley studios

www.earthship.com – a more radical approach to

sustainable housing

the move to low-carbon design: are designers

taking the needs of building users into account?

Mindy hadi and chloe halfhide, Bre Trust 2009

(Practical design guidance with case studies)

general and background

green Building Facts and Figures, wgBc

www.ukgbc.org/site/document/download/?document_

id=950

climate change Facts– friends of the earth,

http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/climate_change_fac

ts.pdf

the stern review –

economic impact of climate change, 2006,

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/nl1/newsroom/dg_064854

uK climate impact programme, UKcP09, defra,

http://www.ukcip.org.uk

Better regulation for a sustainable built environment,

2008, The aldersgate group

http://www.ukgbc.org/site/resources/show-resource-details

?id=256

communities, councils and a low carbon Future,

alexis rowell, 2010, Transition Books

ipd environment code – Measuring the

environmental performance of buildings,

investment Property databank limited 2010

peak oil – Building a positive future for Bristol,

The Bristol Partnership/Bristol green capital, 2009

useful websites

www.bre.co.uk

www.breeam.co.uk

www.bristolgreencapital.org

www.carbontrust.co.uk

www.cat.org.uk

www.dti.gov.uk

www.energysavingtrust.org.uk

www.eurec.be

www.strategicforum.org.uk

www.ukgbc.org

www.usablebuildings.co.uk

www.usgbc.org

www.worldgbc.org

http://www.architecture.com/sustainabilityhub/

sustainabilityhub.aspx

http://www.istructe.org/knowledge/topic_areas/

Pages/sustainability.aspx

http://cibse.org/index.cfm?go=page.view&item=1903

Key uK and ireland environmental legislation

• The companies act 2006 Mandatory Business review

• climate change act 2008

• energy act 2008

• site waste Management Plans 2008

• hazardous waste (england and wales) regulations (2005)

• environmental Protection act 1990 (as amended 2004)

• control of substances hazardous to health regs 1999

(as amended 2004)

• waste electronic and electrical equipment 2007

• Town and country Planning Policy statement PPs1 –

delivering sustainable development - sustainability and

climate change

• Town and country Planning act 1990 (as amended 2004)

• PPg3 – s106 and Planning gain for community investment

• PPs9 – Biodiversity* and geological conservation

• PPg21 – Pollution incidence response Planning

• PPg22 – renewable energy

• PPg26 – flood defence

• ePc’s, feed-in Tariffs, rhi, Building

regulations october 2010

• environmental Protection (duty of care) regulations (1991)

• controlled waste regulations (1992)

• control of noise at work regulations 2005

• control of asbestos at work regulations (2002)

• contaminated land (england) regulations (2000)

• The control of Pollution (oil storage)

(england) regulations 2001

• ground water regulations (1998)

• environmental Permitting regulations (2010) –

waste management licensing

• environmental damage (Prevention and remediation)

regulations (2009)

• code for sustainable homes (csh) 2007 – design

standard requiring zero carbon new housing by 2016.

international sources

United nations framework convention on

climate change – www.http://unfccc.int

details on Kyoto etc.

world green Building council – www.worldgbc.org,

leed - leadership in energy and environmental design -

http://www.usgbc.org

green star –

http://www.gbca.org.au/green-star/green-star-overview/

casBee – comprehensive assessment system for

Built environment efficiency

http://www.ibec.or.jp/casBee/english/index.htm


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Key action points

action By WhoM? “could”, is this action coMMents “should”, MeasuraBle? iF so, hoW? & points Foror “Must” discussion

1.Better enforcement of dclg local Must reduction in emissions of buildings national impactBuilding regulations. authorities in use and reduction in energy

(Building consumption% improvement Pa control) Trading –Kg co2e/m2/yr research on part standards l and set a target.

2.Better enforcement of inspection dclg local Must Measured improvements in national impactof air conditioning systems. authorities efficiency and reduction in

(Building emissions and energy usage% control) Trading improvement Pa –standards Kg co2e/m2/yr research on part

l and set a target.

3. strengthen the requirements of dclg Must Tighter regulations, issued earlier national impactbuilding regulations incrementally and or cioB to force building owners and the link current published guidance industry to act. research the cost, (e.g. code for sustainable homes, timing, resource implications to Passivhaus standards) to evidence the benefits of the action the regulations. on carbon.

4.comprehensive retrofit programme dclg should Through energy consumption and national impactto be initiated residential/commercial. decc reduced emissions of existing

Bis building stock. ePc’s and dec’s** Kg co2e/m2/yr.research the cost, timing, resource implications to evidence the benefits of the action on carbon.

**cioB recognises that current methodologies are evolving according to the latest research available.

5.Move to lifecycle assessments of Bis Must Measurable through assessments, global impactbuilding energy use and emissions. riBa/cioB on a recurring basis (Building

dclg MoT’s?) making building procurers and owners aware of the real cost of their design and building decisions.consistent use of post-occupancy assessments and feedback. Pre construction and post construction saP energy assessment Kg co2e/m2/yr.

6 design for early connection to the designers should Measurable by early connection national impactlong-term energy source. contractors being achieved.

John eynon fcioB, March 2011

buildings in design 7 in... · 2019-06-13 · and whole life cost (a+b or a+b+c) –diagram based...

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