Building with an eye to sustainability has become a social challenge in the global property sector. This is particularly so in the case of “public project” ventures. FSB and SSF have made substantive contributions to sustainable architecture by way of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) and certification to DIN ISO 14025 and are actively supporting a global idea that grasps sustainability as being an integrative approach lending equal weight to economics, ecology and social factors. Going hand in hand with this is the objective of further enhancing the usevalue and financial worth of structures.
Just the products for a sustainable architecture
The adoption of a sustainable style of building is organised and advanced by means of “Green Building” certification exercises. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is, alongside other structures, a system for classifying ecological construction that was devised by the U.S. Green Building Council in 1998. It defines a series of standards for construction that is environmentally friendly, resource-efficient and sustainable.
The values were arrived at in cooperation with service provider PE International, though the spheres of door handles, window handles and accessories inclusive of electronic access control in Aluminium, Stainless Steel, Brass and Bronze as well as mortice locks and barrierfree handle systems are covered by existing Environmental Product Declarations issued pursuant to DIN ISO 14025 by Institut Bauen und Umwelt e.V. (IBU).
The various EPD characteristic values for DGNB-certified buildings have been entered in the “ökobau.dat” ecological building database kept by Germany’s Federal Ministry for Transport, Construction and Urban Development. The file can be accessed on the web (in German only) at www.nachhaltigesbauen.de/baustoff-undgebaeudedaten/oekobaudat
Building greener buildings with DGNB certification
Likewise promoting the cause of sustainable building is the DGNB certificate, a quality seal indicating conformance to domestic and international standards and directives. Whereas the LEED system adjudges buildings on the basis of a specified points system, DGNB certification reflects the use of building products tested to prescribed guidelines (EPD) by Institut Bauen und Umwelt e.V. (IBU).
The consistency of this approach, formulated in 2007 and now serving as the basis for the EN 15804 standard currently in the process of preparation, is pointing the way on the issue worldwide: the DGNB certificate involves a rigorous assessment of the entire value-added chain as well as of a building’s life-cycle phases. The aim is to optimise all factors impacting on the lifecycle, from the acquisition of raw materials through building to deconstruction. Attention is given not only to the materials used to actually erect a building but also to the various other components employed.
FSB Declaration Numbers:
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Door handles, window handles, System EZK* made of Aluminium:
EPD-FSB-2011111-D
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Door handles, window handles, System EZK* made of Stainless Steel:
EPD-FSB-2011211-D
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Door handles, window handles, System EZK* made of Bronze and brass:
EPD-FSB-2011311-D
- Barrier-free ErgoSystem® (Stainless Steel): EPD-FSB-2011411-D
* Electronic access control
SSF Declaration Number:
- Mortice locks and striking plates: EPD-FSB-2011511-D
