Stuttgart, 4th October 2010.
The beginning: The German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB) was founded in Stuttgart on June 25th 2007. In an effort to promote sustainable building, the Council resolved to develop a certification system to honour particularly environmentally friendly, economically efficient buildings that conserve resources and have been optimized in terms of user comfort – the DGNB Certificate. With just 120 members attending the DGNB kick-off event in Berlin in January 2008, membership had already increased to over 900 by October 2010.
Membership structure: All aspects of the building and real estate sectors are represented among the members of DGNB. These include architects, engineers, construction companies and building contractors, manufacturers of building products, investors, property owners, proprietors, project managers, building operators, supply and disposal service companies, members of public authorities and non-governmental organisations, scientists, and representatives from testing institutes.
Organizational structure: The DGNB is organized as a board and an office. The DGNB's content-oriented activities are bundled into working groups, committees and advisory bodies. Professor Manfred Hegger is the Chairman of the DGNB and Dr. Christine Lemaitre is its CEO.
Events: Apart from general meetings, local DGNB events and workshops, another permanent entry in the DGNB calendar is Consense, which is organised jointly with the Stuttgart Trade Fair Centre. The first Consense: International Congress and Trade Fair for Sustainable Building – was held in 2008. This event has now become established as Europe's central sustainable building event. The next edition of Consense is to be held in Stuttgart on 29 – 30 June 2011.
The certificate: The first German Sustainable Building Certificates were awarded for office and administrative buildings at the BAU trade fair in Munich in January 2009. Buildings can now be awarded certificates within the occupancy profiles "New Office and Administrative Buildings", "New Retail Buildings", "New Industrial Buildings", "New Educational Facilities", "New Residential Buildings", "New Hotel Buildings", "New Mixed City Districts" and existing buildings in the category "Modernization of Office and Administrative Buildings". Other occupancy profiles are being developed to cover projects such as hospitals, laboratories and other existing buildings. Over 120 buildings have so far been awarded a DGNB Certificate or Pre-certificate. Another 36 certificates and pre-certificates are to be awarded at Expo Real in October 2010.
Internationalization: The core system of the DGNB allows rapid, and above all transparent adaption to the requirements of other countries and their building cultures. The Certification System is currently being adapted to local conditions in countries such as Austria, Bulgaria and Switzerland, in close cooperation with the international partner organizations in each country. A large number of other countries have also shown interest in the DGNB System, and the DGNB is additionally preparing an international certification system for all of the countries which are not yet represented in the network. This will be based on the current European standards and building regulations and will contain the necessary European data sets for preparing life cycle assessments. This system is to be in service from October 2010 onwards.
Training: The DGNB Academy is responsible for the conveyance of comprehensive knowledge about the DGNB Certification System and about sustainable building in three areas. First, it offers training to become a DGNB Auditor, Consultant or Registered Professional; Second, it holds English-language training courses to become qualified as a DGNB International Auditor or Consultant; And finally, it offers an extensive programme of seminars with detailed topics concerning sustainable building. The DGNB Academy works with external training institutions to develop a national training network such as through the IREBS (International Real Estate Business School) and IWTI (Institute of Economic and Technical Real Estate Management). So far, the DGNB has accredited 250 Auditors and Consultants.
Further information
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges Bauen e.V.
German Sustainable Building Council
Kronprinzstrasse 11
70173 Stuttgart, Germany
Tel.: +49 (0)711 72 23 22-0
Fax: +49 (0)711 72 23 22-99
E-mail: info@dgnb.de
www.dgnb-international.com; www.dgnb.de
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Free for printing and reproduction – A sample copy would be appreciated.
You can find digital DGNB press releases at www.dgnb-international.com; www.dgnb.de
Press releases are also available as zip files for downloading at:
mx.proesler.de/partner/DGNB_EXPO2010_text.zip
Images of properties which have received certificates can also be downloaded as zip files using the following link:
