Lately the EU GreenBuilding programme has gained popularity with major developers. But what does the EU Green Building really cover? And are there any alternatives to the EU GreenBuilding programme?

First of all the understanding of ‘green building’ mentioned in this quotation is purely focused on the energy consumption in buildings. This understanding of green building differs from other understandings of the term green building, which aside from energy also focus on biodiversity and materials [2-3].  

The EU GreenBuilding programme focuses on ensuring commitment from building owners and developers to become a GreenBuilding partner, as well as, endorsement from actors in the building industry.
 

This commitment to energy-efficient design is a positive contribution to the range of schemes available to building owners and developers. However, this commitment falls short if the building owner or developer aims at a holistic approach to tackling climate change or even sustainable building.  

If this is the case he or she should consider using one of the internationally acclaimed certification schemes for sustainable buildings, e.g. BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) or LEED (Leadership in Energy-Efficient Design), which provide sustainability assessment schemes with a wider range of issues related to sustainable building design. These schemes provide a frame by which the building owner or developer can set his/her targets and they provide designers of buildings with a tool to achieve this target.

 Lastly, the schemes ensure third-party verification of the achieved score for the project, which means that the sustainability strategy taken in the building design is subjected to a benchmarked scheme by which other sustainable building designs are also measured.   The BREEAM and LEED schemes do not in their current form (2008 versions) cover all issues relating to the sustainability of buildings, but they do cover a majority of these, and the schemes are significantly different from one another in their approach to sustainability – i.e. which issues of sustainability are weighted and scored in the schemes. Building owners and developers should therefore consider which scheme fulfils their specific approach to sustainability, whether they want to set a specific target that all their buildings have to abide by, and how this target fits into their ‘sustainable’ business strategy.  

Feel free to contact me for more information about the different schemes mentioned here (and others), and how the schemes fit your specific profile as a building owner, developer or designer. 

 References:

1.     www.eu-greenbuilding.org/ 

2.     Edwards 2003: Green Buildings Pay, by Brian Edwards,Spon Press, New York

3.     Wines 2000: ‘Green Architecture’ by James Wines, Taschen, Köln