Private Constructions – One Click LCA Help Centre

Note: It is not possible to create private constructions for regulated/mandated datasets such as the Dutch NMD database.

What are private constructions?

One Click LCA offers organization-level private assemblies known as private constructions. These constructions are created and managed by your organization and are accessible exclusively to users within your organization for adding to calculation projects. Once added to a project, these assemblies become visible to any party granted access to and use of that particular project.

Private constructions enable you to define and create new assemblies using existing material datasets. Each construction is bound to a specific subset of the database to maintain consistency, such as utilizing only CML-compliant data points. Consequently, the construction becomes available in CML-compliant calculation tools for future use.

How do you use private constructions?

To utilize these features, users must meet the following prerequisites:

Hold an Expert license.
Have established a company account (instructions for setting up a company account are available).

To publish or edit private constructions and make them accessible to others within the company account, users must be designated as 'Main users' of the company account. Note that multiple users can hold this designation.

Once these prerequisites are met, all users associated with the company's license (both basic and 'main' users) can:

Access the company's private library of constructions in their projects.
Create a group within a project and propose additions to the company's private library. 'Main users' will receive email notifications and must then 'lock and publish' the construction.

Users can be added to a company account by 'main users' or by sending a request through the platform, which triggers a notification when eligibility is met. It's important to note that users cannot be added to the organization if they don't share the same email address domain. If this is required, please contact support for assistance.

Options for creating private constructions

Option 1: Use the 'Create a group' feature on the building materials page.

Users can drag and drop desired rows from the page into a group and create a group from them. This group creation can be limited to the current project or saved as a construction in the organization's profile.

When a user opts to save the construction to the company's account, the organization's "Main user(s)" will receive a notification to approve or reject the assembly. If the user making this selection is already a "main user," the construction is immediately published and can be used across all of the company's projects.

Constructions automatically inherit metadata from their components. For instance, a construction generated using a tool tied to the INIES database will adopt similar metadata.

This functionality enables the creation of constructions for wall and floor structures within a project, which can then be reused in future projects. All constructions created come with default comments indicating the creator's name and a timestamp.

Option 2: Creating a group by drag and drop

Users can streamline the process of creating a group by dragging over resource rows with the left mouse cursor and then right-clicking. This action triggers a shortcut menu that provides direct access to the "create a group" functionality, allowing for the creation of a group with the selected rows in the same manner as described previously.

Option 3: Adding private constructions through the classical construction management page

The user interface for classical construction management under the organization profile has undergone simplification and clarification. The displayed fields have been minimized to include only essential information. Additionally, all constructions created through this interface will remain editable, maintaining ease of use and flexibility.

1. Open your company account and navigate to the 'Data management' tab'

To access existing private constructions and create new ones, simply click on 'Edit' within the row for Private Constructions. This action will allow you to manage and create private constructions as needed.

2. Click on 'Add a construction/component, and choose the applicable construction

When selecting the construction type you wish to create, North American users must choose TRACI, while users from other regions can opt for CML.

Construction name	What kind of data is available with this option?
European construction material: CML / Ecoinvent	CML based data with Ecoinvent as the upstream database
European construction material: CML / GaBi	CML based data with GaBi as the upstream database
European construction material: (Allows mixed upstream database)	CML based data with both Ecoinvent and GaBi as the upstream databases
European construction material: Okobaudat	Okobaudat data only
North American construction material: TRACI / Ecoinvent	TRACI based data with Ecoinvent as the upstream database
North American construction material: TRACI / GaBi	TRACI based data with GaBi as the upstream database
North American construction material: (Allows mixed upstream database)	TRACI based data with both Ecoinvent and GaBi as the upstream databases
Ecoinvent 3.8 constructions (for use in product calculations)	Data for EPD product calculations only

3. Fill in the required fields for the construction.

Fill in the required fields for the construction. The minimum required fields are

'Name'
'Unit'
The constituents of the construction.

Field	Specification	Required?
Naming fields	Here you can enter the name of your construction.	Required
Unit	Here you enter the unit of your construction	Required
Technical specification	Enter any information about the technical specifications	Optional
Environmental data source	Enter any information about the data source	Optional
Data type	Specify if it is generic or manufacturer-specific data	Optional
Country	Specify the applicable region	Optional
Type	Specify the type of construction	Optional
Service life	Specify the service life of the construction	Optional
Thickness	Specify the thickness of the construction	Optional, if applicable.
Classifications	Specify the classification (RICS; Mat01, Bygningsdel, Rakennusosa, BSAB)	Optional
Comment	Free text comment field	Optional
Choosing the construction materials	Choose which materials are included in your construction	Required
Lock & Publish	Locks your construction and publishes it	Required for using the construction in projects

After pressing save, the construction remains editable. However, once you click 'Lock & Publish', the construction is finalized and locked from further editing.

4. Once you have completed filling in the required fields, proceed by clicking on 'Lock & Publish'.

This action finalizes your construction, making it ready for immediate usage. After locking and publishing the construction, it becomes accessible to you and other users within your organization. You can then search for the construction using its given name in the building material query.

Managing private constructions

Management of private constructions is conducted through the company account. Main users have the authority to approve constructions for addition to the company account. Once your construction is published, it becomes immutable, and further edits are not possible. Should a construction require editing, please reach out to support for assistance.

Editing existing constructions

Constructions are editable within the company account, but they can also be modified directly in the building materials query.

If you wish to eliminate the construction group and solely focus on the materials, you have the option to 'unbundle' the construction. This action removes the calculation rule while still enabling you to include the constituents of the construction individually in your assessment.

Alternatively, if you want to adjust quantities or constituents while retaining the construction as a whole, you can opt to 'create a variant'.

Creating allows you to make edits to the existing construction without having to unbundle the construction or take it apart.

Seven best practices for creating constructions

Below are several best practices for creating constructions. Adhering to these guidelines will help you craft accurate and usable constructions:

1. Suggested unit of construction

Below are the suggested units to be used when creating construction

Walls / slabs: m2
Beams / columns: m
Concrete: m3
Building installations (HVAC systems) might need to be modeled in items (eg 1 “piece” of a ventilation system, but “pieces” shall be the last option)

2. Material selection for construction

How to select the right materials

Prefer generic over manufacturer-specific data. You can make exceptions in case you identify a local/foreign EPD that is actually quite representative of your local market and which has typical impacts that are close to the average. You can identify average carbon impacts and see how the material performs by using the material benchmarks. Find the green materials benchmarks article here.
Priority of generic data: One Click LCA's own generic data, Okobau, INIES (you can re-order if you wish). Please note that not all data in Okobau and INIES are generic. Generic data can be filtered in the material search.
Strong advice: Agree in advance on profiles that shall be used in constructions in order to ensure consistency and avoid re-doing constructions. This is mainly important for high-impact materials. Agreed materials can be marked as favorites and appear always first! Find your favorite materials article here.
Other potential options: You can filter only data with 1 specific upstream database e.g Ecoinvent or GaBi
General guidance on selecting different types of materials, you can find here.
Average material quantities guidance you can find here.

3. Order of materials in construction

In what order to insert materials

The top-down approach in horizontal elements (e.g. 1. Tiles, 2. Tile adhesives..)
Outside-inside approach for external walls (e.g. 1. External paint, 2. Plaster..)

4. Parameters to consider for each material in a construction

The most important parameters to define for each material are as follows

Units: As described in #1, use typical units for the inserted quantities of materials.
Manufacturing localization: Ideally this is used for materials that are indeed produced locally but no available local data. This will change the impacts from the ones demonstrated in the EPD. Method explanation here.
Transportation: If A4 is relevant for the project, default distances can be used. It is recommended to update this if you have better data available
Service life: If replacements are relevant to the project, default values are given. We suggest you ensure they make sense with each other within a construction (e.g. tiles and tile adhesive have the same lifespan). You can identify more references for lifespans here: The service life of materials
Wastage: Materials that are input as constituents receive wastage according to the material subtype by default. The construction-specific waste percentage can be assigned for each material by adjusting this value. The wastage parameter is only considered in tools where wastage is enabled in the Building Materials query

5. Adjustable recycled content

You are also able to specify the recycled content of each material for Circularity Assessment purposes. Do note that adjusting the recycled content does not affect the LCA results of the materials. This parameter is only considered in the Building Circularity tools.

6. Document your assumptions

For each material of construction, we strongly recommend to a add assumptions and clarifications in the “comment” field, explaining what this material is about and how it was calculated (eg if you add reinforcement, add a comment on how you calculated it, eg “Rebar for beams 300 kg/m3”)

7. Creating Constructions in One Click LCA

The simplest method for creating constructions is by utilizing the grouping feature. Furthermore, you have the option to save the construction to your company account for future reuse.

Internally, determine whether all users can save groupings directly to the company account or if approvals are required. This responsibility can be assigned to "Main users" within the company account. If preferred, all users can be designated as "Main users," eliminating the need for approval processes. Guidance on creating a company account here.