Green Building

 

A conference on Green Building in Tel Aviv sheds light on the trend toward sustainability – from all angles.

 

In Tel Aviv everything will focus on sustainable building when in September 2015 the fourth annual conference on green building opens, hosted by the Israel Green Building Council (ILGBC), a not-for-profit body for green building. Christine Lemaitre is a guest speaker at the convention, at the invitation of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and the ILGBC. Four questions for the President of the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB).

Ms Lemaitre, sustainability is now almost omnipresent as a buzzword. So what is the state of sustainable building in Germany?

Sustainable building has in recent years become far more important a matter. A decade ago it was still a clearly marginal topic, but today in the major conurbations hardly a single office building gets constructed that does not obtain certification in terms of sustainability criteria.

 

What obstacles do developers encounter?

Despite the favourable trend, many developers find it difficult to finance the extra expenditure required for the certification process, specifically in the planning, and to identify a direct and above all short-term return on invest. This is especially true of smaller construction projects or for states and local authorities. Many companies that search as tenants for such premises expect sustainability as a matter of course and are not always willing to pay extra for it.

 

Does green building really make economic sense? Or, put differently, as of when does it make sense?

That’s an issue where we should differentiate carefully. Considered purely in terms of the costs for planning and construction, a sustainable and possibly certified building need not cost significantly more. What is more important is the amortization of possible surplus costs. And this economic feasibility can be expressed in different ways. I am of course thinking here of the savings potential. That said, the DGNB understands sustainability as more than “green”, i.e., the ecological aspect. We always focus on a building’s entire life cycle across 50 years – from the early planning to its demolition. After all, a building’s economic quality depends not only on the construction costs, but also on the outlays for maintenance, modernization and much more besides. Socio-cultural factors, such as user comfort, are likewise key. Thus a sustainably constructed building can at best help inhabitants or staff feel good and stay healthy – an economic factor that should not be underestimated if one bears in mind current levels of sick leave.

 

Could you give an example of an especially successful building project in Germany of late?

For me, a building project is successful if it manages to optimally deploy the different qualities of sustainability and create a building that also possesses extraordinary design and architectural qualities. We award examples of this the German Sustainability Prize each year. Last year, HOF8 in Schäftersheim won the award, a set of farmhouses that is over 200 years old and has been upgraded to a plus-energy house and is now home to a midwife practice, a planning office and apartments for senior citizens. Here, sustainability, architecture and innovation form a real triad. This year we have again received numerous exciting entries for the prize. The winner will be announced at the end of November.