Why sustainable building concepts are a shared task

Buzzword “sustainability:” currently on everyone’s lips and, hence, a much misused and overused term. But not in the real estate sector, because here it has a very concrete significance: EU Taxonomy requires the building stock to be CO₂-free by 2050, which is an unbelievable challenge for the entire construction industry. It has recently become very clear that certain things in the sector are changing - most particularly, the attitude of our clients. For us as an integrated design company, which has positioned itself as a strong supporter of the energy and raw materials revolution by establishing its own ATP Green Deal and which designs climate-neutral buildings across Europe, this change almost comes as a relief. Because the design of sustainable buildings is increasingly becoming what it actually always should have been: a shared task. But this wasn’t always the case.

Sustainability is the more intelligent option
Just a few years ago, we architects and engineers were still almost laughed at and marginalized as “eco-freaks,” when we presented sustainable building solutions to certain clients. It sometimes took a lot of persuasion to open their eyes to the fact that integrally designed buildings offered not only economic benefits but also the essential ecological ones. And while EU Taxonomy has perhaps removed some of the ideological character of sustainable building design, it has also made the approach very tangible. Today, all the players in the real estate sector are aware that CO₂-neutral building not only protects our planet (which is already a highly compelling argument per se), but is also the more intelligent option from the commercial perspective. After all, we want the buildings that we build today to exist long beyond 2050.

Clients who decide against sustainable concepts could find themselves paying a very high price. Just think of the obligatory refurbishment measures that the building could require in order to meet future standards. Of course it is true that individual environmentally-friendly design decisions that are taken today can mean that clients have to invest more up front, but such decisions hugely reduce the risk of a future obligatory refurbishment or, in the worst case, demolition. Thinking about the entire building lifecycle and beyond (by, for instance, selecting recyclable materials) has now become a standard feature of our conversations with clients. More generally, it has become clear to us that the consultancy services related to the EU Green Deal that we offer in our role as architects and engineers are recognized as bringing added value and, above all, are welcomed and widely used.

Together to the best solution
Our  BIM-supported (Building Information Modeling) integrated design enables us to offer the client a series of possible solutions including an “ideal variant” – almost on a digital plate. This “ideal variant” is a service that we offer at no cost – and a service that has proved its worth. Because “seeing is believing” – and we can offer this clarity. The principle is simple but effective. We draw up a project in line with the specific requirements of the client and, hence, optimally solve the specific task. In parallel with this, we produce an ideal variant of the project in terms of ecological sustainability that enables our clients to easily identify the decisions that significantly reduce their CO₂ footprint. And even if a mixture of the two approaches is eventually selected, we regularly observe that the ideal variant is almost always present in the end product – in one way or another.

In this way, our BIM-supported integrated design work illustrates the range of possible solutions that are both sustainable and realizable. Experience shows that, at the end of the day, virtually all participants are interested in contributing to a reduction in CO₂ emissions. Hence, we work together to find the best solution. Our advantage as integrated designers is that planning with BIM enables us to start offering sustainability advice in a very early project phase and then accompany the entire design and construction process. This puts us in the position to highlight potential and realizable solutions and to visualize these for clients at any time – also in terms of costs. And this can also be seen in our buildings. 

The added value of sustainable buildings
Even if increasing numbers of clients approach us with the concrete objective of designing CO₂-free buildings, they do so for many different reasons: Some aspire to achieving a specific sustainability standard or certification, others would like to enjoy the long-term economic advantages, and some are motivated by factors related to the   financing of the building. Because CO₂-neutral buildings are now more highly rated by the financial sector due to the reduced risk of depreciation.

But there are also increasing numbers of projects in which general social factors and, hence, ESG objectives play a concrete role. Such projects are particularly interesting for us as designers because they demonstrate the social impact that a building can have. And when designing urban planning projects in particular, we benefit hugely from a taking a joint, interdisciplinary approach, because a range of scenarios for the future can be tested. If, for example, a requirement that is important today will disappear in the future, we designers can join our client in asking the question “how can we use and then reuse this space? And how can today’s design best integrate the preconditions for such a later repurposing?” In any event, we can see that our clients are becoming ever more open to our ATP claim “We want to change the world for the better with our buildings” – and this perfectly illustrates how the design of sustainable buildings is a common cause.