GIZ has been awarded with the platinum certificate of the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB) for its new building in Bonn. Together with the neighboring Meander Building, the so-called Campus Forum forms the GIZ Campus Bonn.
By Aissa Giering, GIZ Communications Team
Both buildings on the GIZ Campus had already been recognized with the Gold standard before. The platinum status for its new building has now been awarded to the GIZ through additional tests, which prove the building's higher sustainability level.
Sustainable building? Placing a focus on the environment, cost-effectiveness and people!
As a non-profit organization, the DGNB is committed to a future-proof built environment. It pursues a holistic understanding of sustainability that includes ecological, economic and sociocultural aspects, as well as economic and socio-cultural issues. The DGNB certification system is considered the most advanced in the world and is an internationally recognized benchmark for sustainability.
The Campus Forum excelled in the DGNB assessment, in particular with its environmentally compatible material extraction, its barrier-free accessibility, the quality of the air in the indoor space, as well as its eco-balance. In these areas, the new building meets 100 percent of the required criteria. "In order to obtain the platinum certification, for example, we tested in daylight simulation to determine how much natural light enters each part of the building. In addition, a blower door test was used to measure the airtightness of the building. The more airtight a building is, the more efficiently the desired room temperature can be achieved and maintained," explains Josef Hohnen, Group Manager of Area and Building Management in Bonn and site manager of the Campus Forum.
Sustainability is a guiding principle for GIZ
Overall, GIZ acts according to the guiding principle of sustainability, which is also reflected in its office buildings. "Sustainability is a high priority for GIZ in the planning, construction and in the operation of our buildings. Particularly in new construction projects, GIZ wants to set a good example here," explains Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel, Member of the Executive Board and Director of Operations at GIZ.
Three GIZ buildings have now been awarded the DGNB Gold certificate, including GIZ's own the Academy for International Cooperation at Bonn-Röttgen, the Meander Building in Bonn, and a GIZ building (House 5) in Eschborn. The Campus Forum is now the first GIZ building to achieve the Platinum Standard.