Sustainable Buildings

The construction and real estate sectors are in a state of change: Energy efficiency, resource protection, residential and workplace health, value retention and risk mitigation are now in focus. General conditions and market interests are changing. Therefore, in the future buildings will be planned, built and operated differently, i.e. more sustainably than in the past. Sustainable building means to build intelligently: The focus is on a comprehensive quality concept that serves the building and real estate sectors, as well as society in general. Sustainable properties are beneficial to the environment, conserve resources, comfortable and healthy for their users, and fit optimally into their socio-cultural surroundings. This article is an introduction to the German Sustainable Building Council’s quality label (DGNB), which supports planners and construction firms in the realization of sustainable buildings. The DGNB certificate assesses the building’s overall performance, not individual actions. Along with pre-certification, the DGNB criteria can be used to identify efficient, inexpensive steps during the planning phase. Furthermore, the DGNB pre-certificate gives investors the confidence during the early planning stage that the building’s performance targets will be reached when it is finished.