Our towns and cities will need to adapt in order to deal with challenges of climate change. But to allow our cities to adapt to the changing environment, we also need to change our lives and behaviour. The concrete measures this involves and the ideas they’re based on were presented by Prof. Matthias Rudolph, Paul Eldag, Gerhard Hauber and Rolf Messerschmidt at this year’s DGNB annual digital congress.
The way we plan and operate our buildings offers enormous potential for saving climate-damaging CO2 emissions. However, to fully exploit this potential, it is important to take an honest, systematic look at our own consumption. DGNB member CSMM – architecture matters has implemented exactly this for its own company. Timo Brehme, founder and managing partner, reports on the motivations, experiences and insights.
In 2008 the DGNB became the official German member of the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC), a global network of over 70 Green Building Councils around the world. Since then, the DGNB has been intensively involved in WorldGBC’s activities. Now, Christine Lemaitre, CEO of the DGNB, has been re-elected to join the World Green Building Council’s Board of Directors for another two years.
For two weeks from 6 to 17 November, it felt like the whole world was watching as 25,000 visitors from 195 countries descended on Bonn, the former German capital, to work on the implementation of the Paris Agreement. As one of the approximately 500 NGOs in attendance, the DGNB played an active part in six of the events during the conference.
The number of buildings that have been constructed in China in the last 15 years equals the total number of buildings that already exist in Europe. Construction volumes remain high and the demand for certifiably better buildings is growing. And this is where the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB) certification system comes into play, serving as a quality standard for projects reflecting Made in Germany levels of sustainability.
For an entire decade now, the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB) has done more than any other organisation in Germany to shape sustainable building. The DGNB has also been the undisputed market leader for many years. As the largest network for sustainable building in Europe, we bring the pioneers of the construction and property industry around a single table. To mark our tenth anniversary, we invited some 300 guests to celebrate this milestone with us at the Academy of Arts in Berlin (Akademie der Künste).
With a market share of over 80 per cent for new commercial properties and more than 60 per cent of the overall market, the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB) is the undisputed market leader in the German commercial property segment, well ahead of other certification systems. This was the conclusion of the latest market report issued by BNP Paribas Real Estate – Market Focus: Green Buildings 2017. Hermann Horster, Head of Sustainability at BNP Paribas Real Estate, answered our questions about the role played by certified buildings in the investment market, also covering a variety of other issues.
The effect of light, or to be precise, of daylight, on our well-being cannot be denied. When the sun shines, we feel happier and more energetic. When it’s grey outside, our mood tends to swing in the other direction – facts that should also be kept in mind when planning natural light in buildings.
