Labels and Life-Cycle Assessment
The desire of investors and clients for labels is understandable. They facilitate the comparison of offers. A property life-cycle assessment is equally important. It is the only way to shed light on the relationship between the lifespan, maintenance and energy costs.
Clients often desire specific labels for their buildings, such as Minergie (for new and refurbished low-energy-consumption buildings). The sharp rise in popularity of the Minergie label has made it into a good sales argument on the real-estate market and generally increases the property’s value. Here it is necessary to ensure that the planning leads to a building that is ready for approval and that the process is conducted in a cost-optimized way. Within the framework of the target label, it is essential that conceptual guidelines for the building service facilities, building envelopes or seasonal storage devices are developed. This prepares the way towards certification an
Seeing the Whole Picture
The leading labels and certifications often disregard various aspects like quality of location, vicinity and infrastructure at the cost of comparability. They restrict themselves to construction methods, material and theoretical thermal insulation values. However, to determine the true energy consumption of real estate, a more comprehensive approach is required. Real estate has a long lifespan, and it is important to focus on the big picture. Within this overall assessment, labels can provide planning guidelines and contribute to the strategic positioning of real estate. They are no replacement for overall assessments, however.
Early Action Saves Money
The importance of an overall life cycle assessment can be seen by the fact that operations are responsible for 80 percent of the costs of real estate, while "only" 20 percent are from the initial investment. The same applies to emissions. The potential to influence (i.e. the relationship between planning/construction measures and the corresponding expenditures) is always inversely proportional (see chart). Despite this, contracts are almost always awarded based on capital costs and not on a life cycle assessment. A careful evaluation of all aspects during the development stage may mean a higher initial investment. However, it reduces the annual costs on a medium and long-term basis and diminishes overall risks.
