Ögni brings Level (s) into construction practice: sustainability policy in focus!

Ögni brings Level (s) into construction practice: sustainability policy in focus!

The Austrian Society for Sustainable Real Estate Management (ÖGNI) is part of the EU project More Life to Level (S). This project aims to apply and further develop the European Sustainability Framework of Level (S) in practice. The ÖGNI cooperates with various international partners, including the German Society for Sustainable Building (DGNB) from Germany, GBCE from Spain and DK-GBC from Denmark. The aim is to accompany selected construction projects in Europe with level (s) in order to gain practical knowledge and to promote the sustainable construction.

Level (s) provides a comprehensive system with uniform indicators for measuring carbon emissions, resource use, water consumption, health, comfort and climate change adjustment. The framework supports the use of principles of the circular economy and offers a common language to evaluate the sustainability performance of buildings. It is applicable to residential buildings and offices, whereby it is extensively tested by planning to the end of a building and enables sustainability.

Overview of Level (s)

Level (s) includes three important reporting levels: "conception", "Detailed planning and construction" as well as "AS-Built and in operation". The system is open source and is available to everyone free of charge. Buildings contribute to a significant proportion of global environmental problems, for example, in which they are responsible for 50 percent of the total energy consumption and 33 percent of waste production. In view of these challenges, Level (s) aims to support EU policy to strengthen the sustainability of buildings by offering a framework that allows sustainability performance across the entire life cycle.

In order to present the progress and results of the project, a webinar of the European Commission will take place on June 12, 2025. Under the title "How to Set Early Stage Building Sustainability Objectives With Level (S)", the ÖGNI representatives will present: Interior projects that have illustrated the potential of Level (S). The webinar, for which participation is free, starts at 10:00 a.m. and ends at 11:30 a.m. Interested parties can register at this link

The role of the DGNB

The DGNB, as the main actor in the area of ​​certification of sustainable buildings, pursues the goal of making sustainability features quantitatively measurable and comparable. Their certification system is particularly geared towards private sector construction projects and includes different building types - from commercial buildings to hotels to residential buildings. The evaluation takes place in various quality categories, including ecological, economic as well as socio -cultural and functional qualities.

The importance of building certification such as the DGNB certificate is also evident in the possibility of emphasizing the added value of environmentally and resource-saving buildings. The system evaluates various qualities and awards certificates in the platinum, gold, silver and bronze. This creates a clear incentive for builders to integrate sustainable practices into their projects, which ultimately also makes a significant contribution to the overarching goals of EU taxonomy.

The ÖGNI, founded in 2009, tries to share their knowledge and experience to promote sustainable building practices across Europe. As the "Established Member" of the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC), ÖGNI is actively committed to strengthening the DGNB certificate internationally and further driving sustainability in the construction and real estate industry.