The Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning

Research Project: Evaluation of the Implementation of the Assessment System for Sustainable Building (BNB)

Project briefing

  • Status Completed
  • Project duration September 2020 – November 2022
  • Programme Future Building

For many years now, sustainable building at the federal level has been established as an important part of Germany's national sustainability strategy, which was updated in 2017. Complementing the Federal Building Ministry's Guideline for Sustainable Building, the Assessment System for Sustainable Building (BNB) was developed for the purpose of providing comprehensive evaluations of federal government buildings in order to implement and quantify sustainable building requirements. An evaluation concept to examine the effectiveness, target achievement and further optimisation potential of this system was developed in a research project entitled "Evaluation of the Implementation of the Assessment System for Sustainable Building (BNB)". The current research project implemented this evaluation concept and utilised the evaluation results to make selective enhancements to the BNB.

Background

Given their significance for the economy and society as a whole, the construction and operation of buildings are important parts of Germany's national sustainability strategy. Since 2011, two essential tools have been available for firmly establishing the overall concept of sustainability in the building and real estate industries: the Guideline for Sustainable Building (LFNB) and the accompanying Assessment System for Sustainable Building (BNB).

The BNB has now been used on numerous building projects, and this has created a broad knowledge base among all the stakeholder groups who have been involved in the projects and in the use of the BNB. This broad knowledge base has prepared the ground for evaluating the BNB's effectiveness as a policy framework, a system of targets, a management and optimisation tool and as an instrument for ensuring and assessing quality. The actual effects and impacts of these mechanisms, however, are not readily measurable. Performance indicators of various kinds therefore need to be identified and defined, and the evaluation outlined above needs to be conceptually designed as a test of the system's effectiveness.

In the research project commissioned by the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR) entitled "Creation of an Evaluation Concept for the Assessment System for Sustainable Building", the required concept design has already been developed as a preparatory measure for reviewing the effectiveness of the BNB.

Objective

The aim of this follow-up research project entitled "Evaluation of the Implementation of the Assessment System for Sustainable Building (BNB)" was to use key empirical data collected using the evaluative concept described above to comprehensively answer all the questions posed in the concept regarding the BNB's effectiveness.

This involved implementing the previously developed data collection concepts using quantitative and qualitative research modules, then carrying out the target-oriented preparation and analysis of the data and presenting the findings in an appropriate form. The concept also included a valorisation process of the dissemination, use and exploitation of the key project findings.

For the purpose of carrying out the evaluation project, the processes and methods described in the proposed design specification were adapted, refined and substantiated using the existing conceptual design as a basis. This included planning the data collection as well as the specification and drafting of questionnaires.

Contractors were Life Cycle Engineering Experts GmbH, Darmstadt and imug Beratungsgesellschaft für sozial-ökologische Innovationen mbH, Hanover.

Contact us

  • Andreas Rietz
    Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development
    Division WB 5 "Grundlagen und Systematik des nachhaltigen Bauens"
    Phone: +49 30 18401-2750
    Email: andreas.rietz@bbr.bund.de

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