Tallinn and Helsinki collaborated to hold an SBE16 event during October 5-7. All of the sessions were held in Tallinn, at the Tallinn Spa and Conference Hotel, but a one-day excursion to Helsinki was organized for the third day of the event. The primary technical organizer was RIL, the Finnish Association of Civil Engineers, and EEL, the equivalent Estonian association.
The theme was Build Green and Renovate Deep, very appropriate in this region of relatively mature cities with older urban areas and large stocks of existing buildings. Sub-themes focused on financial and investment issues, green metrics, nearly zero buildings, incentives and models of deep and integrated renovation approaches, and energy issues related to all these aspects.
The event was a good mix of high technical standards and social informality. There were about 160 delegates and 94 peer-reviewed papers, a fairly typical size for a national / regional event.
Nils L.