The German Quality Seal for Sustainable Building
The benefits of the quality seal:
- Active contribution to sustainability: The quality seal quantitatively demonstrates the positive effects of a building for the environment and society.
- All-round quality of a property: The certificate improves the chances of the building being sold or leased on the property market. It attracts the attention of owners and users to a building's high level of quality.
- Planning and cost certainty: The scheme assures investors during the planning phase that the targeted requirements will all be met by the building.
- Better future opportunities for architects and planners: The quality seal means that a higher value is placed on planning work.
- Focus on the lifecycle: It is based on the idea of a lifecycle which is indispensable for PPP projects.
- Marketing instrument: The seal is used as a communication tool by investors and owners and documents their commitment to sustainability.
- Performance is assessed: The German quality seal assesses the building performance and not individual measures. Builders and planners are given plenty of scope to achieve their objectives.
- Practical planning instrument: The certificate has been produced by practicing experts for practicing experts. It helps builders and planners to develop buildings fit for the future.
- Made in Germany: The system is perfectly in line with the German and European way of building, in terms of building specifications and standards but also long-term market experiences with energy-efficient buildings.
The certification process
If a builder wants to have a planned building certified, he or she appoints an auditor accredited by the DGNB. This auditor will have completed training to ensure they are familiar with the German Quality Seal for Sustainable Building. The auditor will assist the builder in gaining certification. He or she will advise on all sustainable building matters, draw up the objectives for the planned building and ensure that the agreed sustainability criteria are taken into account by the planning team. He or she puts together the objectives of the project in a detailed, build-specific specification.The auditor then registers the planned building on the DGNB website and submits the specification to the DGNB. The specification contains clear details of all the criteria of the German Quality Seal for Sustainable Building and is a binding declaration of intent for how the builder will realize the planned objectives of the building. The DGNB analyzes the documents submitted by the auditor. If they satisfy the requirements of the quality seal, the builder is given a pre-certificate for the building. He or she is then responsible for implementing the specification. He or she can also use this pre-certificate, issued at gold, silver or bronze level, to market the property.
Once building work gets underway, the auditor documents the planning and construction processes in line with the requirements of the DGNB documentation guideline. Once the building has been completed, the DGNB checks whether the requirements of the pre-certificate have been implemented. An inspector carries out a conformity check, plausibility checks and random checks on the basis of the DGNB documentation guideline.
Finally, the DGNB checks that the entire process has run according to plan. If all the requirements are met, the builder receives a gold, silver or bronze quality seal from the DGNB and German Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs depending on the degree to which requirements are met. The certificate consists of a paper document and plaque for the building.
