Gold certificate confirms sustainable construction

Sustainable construction is not only an important field of research at ETH Zurich, the university also considers sustainability aspects in its own construction projects. But what does sustainable construction mean at ETH, and which criteria are considered?

Building standards promote sustainability throughout the entire life cycle

The Minergie building standard, for example, focuses on energy efficiency and CO₂-free operation. It considers how a building is heated and cooled, whether there is sufficient thermal insulation, and air renewal with heat recovery. Minergie-Eco, a standard that the BSS meets, also considers the recyclability of the building materials used.As there was no specific sustainability standard for laboratory buildings in Switzerland, ETH Zurich collaborated with the Schweizer Gesellschaft für Nachhaltige Immobiienwirtschaft (SGNI) to adapt the relevant building standard of the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB) to local conditions. The DGNB standard aims to provide a holistic assessment of the sustainability of buildings and sites, taking into account environmental, economic, functional and technical qualities as well as the quality of the project planning and realisation process. The BSS is the first laboratory building in Switzerland to be awarded the DGNB Gold certificate.

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