“Sustainable building is characterized by the continuous and rigorous pursuit of a lifecycle-oriented process from the conceptual and design phase to the ongoing operation”, reports Michael Haugeneder, Managing Director of ATP sustain. “We are proud of the fact that we were able to work together to achieve this objective at DO Croatia in the shape of an excellent certification score of 72.1 %.” This required above average performance in ten categories: energy, health and well-being, innovation, land use, materials, management, pollution, transport, waste, and water.
In order to ensure an energy footprint that was as positive as possible, the building uses geothermal energy that is supplied via the specially built pile foundation. This enables geothermal energy to cover 100 % of heating needs in winter and 70 % of cooling needs in summer. In addition to this, the DO is fitted with 1,200 solar panels, which use the energy of the sun to generate an average of 382 MWh during the year.
BREEAM was developed by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) as an environmental assessment method. This leading global method for evaluating the ecological and socio-cultural aspects of the sustainability of buildings can be applied not only to new buildings but also to existing buildings and refurbishment projects. It takes into account the applicable legislation and the conditions at each location.