Sustainability Report
Custom Certificates
Embodied carbon
The design uses several strategies to minimize the impact of materials, focusing heavily on circular input and low-impact production:
- Circular Input: The project utilizes recycled aggregate from a former quarry. Additionally, the Isover mineral wool insulation used throughout the facade, floors, and ceilings contains approximately 20%–25% slag, a secondary raw material from the metallurgical industry.
- Low-Impact Structure: Load-bearing walls are constructed from Silka calcium-silicate blocks, which offer a lower environmental impact compared to concrete while providing excellent acoustic insulation and high thermal mass.
- Bio-Based & Zero VOC Finishes: The Wineo PURLINE 1500 flooring is an elastic covering made from natural raw materials (castor oil, minerals). It contains no PVC or plasticizers and has zero VOC emissions, significantly improving indoor air quality.
- Regional Sourcing: The project prioritized local suppliers and materials with lower emission intensity whenever possible.
Operational Emissions / Energy
The operational strategy is aggressively low-carbon, relying on a renewable energy source and highly efficient systems to achieve an "Exceptionally Efficient" rating:
- Renewable Energy Source: The main energy source is geothermal heat pumps (IVT GEO) connected to deep boreholes, providing both highly efficient heating and cooling without relying on fossil fuels.
- High-Efficiency Envelope: The building meets a low-energy standard through high thermal performance and quality insulation.
- Integrated Solar Control: DAFE PROGRESS Alu EF+ windows are fitted with integrated shading and are complemented by LINIT PVBL L1 profiled safety glass that diffuses light and prevents overheating.
- Heat Recovery Ventilation: Each apartment features individual controlled ventilation with heat recovery, significantly reducing energy losses.
- Intelligent Building Automation: The Loxone smart automation system optimizes all key technologies (heating, cooling, ventilation, shading) based on sensor data, minimizing unnecessary energy use.
- Electromobility: The building includes partially installed charging points for electric vehicles and e-bikes, managed by the Loxone system.
Service and maintenance emissions
The strategy centers on maximizing the service life of both the materials and the mechanical equipment:
- Material Durability: The selection of robust components like Silka blocks, durable safety glass, and the bio-polyurethane PURLINE flooring ensures a long lifespan in a residential context.
- Green Roof Protection: The extensive green roofs (>5,000) use Isover Flora mats for water retention, which provides a layer of defense for the roof membrane, significantly extending its service life and reducing future maintenance.
- System Lifespan Management: The Loxone intelligent system monitors and optimizes the operation of the heat pumps and ventilation, which helps to extend the equipment lifespan and reduces the need for premature replacements.
Afterlife
Flexibility was a key principle in the internal design:
- The layout is structured around fixed load-bearing walls and service cores.
- The actual apartment divisions use non-load-bearing prefabricated plasterboard partitions, allowing for flexible adaptation of the space to suit future operational or programmatic changes (e.g., combining units).
The use of non-load-bearing prefabricated plasterboard partitions is the primary example of a building element designed for easy disassembly and potential reuse, aligning with circular economy principles. Furthermore, the material selections, such as the use of recycled aggregate and secondary raw materials (slag), demonstrate an active contribution to circularity at the input stage.
Key products in low carbon design
