Sustainable building design in practice – survey among Danish DGNB consultants

Sustainability certification schemes experience growing popularity. Denmark got its own sustainability certification scheme based on the German DGNB certification scheme. Previous work based on four case studies – DGNB certified healthcare centres, suggests further research on how to improve and support the iterative design process in the initial design phases. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to investigate the design process on a more common level experienced by Danish DGNB consultants when designing sustainable buildings using the Danish DGNB certification scheme and thereby possibly verify the findings of previous work, on a more general level. To be able to cover a wide variety of projects and levels of experience with the DGNB scheme, a questionnaire is distributed to Danish DGNB consultants. The survey shows that the design teams to a smaller degree use the DGNB consultant along the design process and particularly so in the early design stages. At the same time, it shows that especially LCA, LCC and acoustical comfort are hardly implemented before the final stages of the design, questioning the holistic nature of the design. The study shows a potential in developing methods and tools to support the initial design phases.