"This guideline is intended to implement integrated principles for the sustainable planning, construction, operation, maintenance and use of buildings and landholdings.

Sustainable building strives to minimise the consumption of energy and resources for all phases of the life-cycle of buildings - from their planning and construction through their use, renovation and to their eventual demolition. It also aims to minimise any possible damage to the natural

environment. This can be achieved by applying the following principles during the

entire building process:

• _ Lowering the energy demand and the consumption of operating materials,
• _ Utilisation of reuseable or recyclable building products and materials,
• _ Extension of the lifetime of products and buildings,
• _ Risk-free return of materials to the natural cycle,
• _ Comprehensive protection of natural areas and use of all possibilities for space-saving construction,

The early implementation of sustainable planning measures can considerably improve the overall economic efficiency of buildings (costs of construction, operation, use, environment, health as well as non-monetary values).

When assessing economic efficiency, not only must the overall economic efficiency of the project be guaranteed, but the economic efficiency of every individual planning step must also be assessed in accordance with

Quotes:

"Sustainable building strives to minimise the consumption of energy and resources for all phases of the life-cycle of buildings - from their planning and construction through their use, renovation and to their eventual demolition."

The German government has recently published a "Guideline for Sustainable Building". It proposes that

"Constant checks on performance and consumption, educating and informing the users and operators on all the effects of sustainability and frequent operational and utilisation analyses will help reduce costs during the utilisation phase. ˇ­Regular inspections will have to be conducted to establish the required level of building maintenance, and smaller construction measures will have to be prepared. They can be used as an opportunity to analyse the operation and the use of the building as defined by the planning, operational and utilisation requirements referred to earlier. This should be done in close agreement with the client and the user. Measures for improving the operation and utilisation of the building should be mutually defined and agreed3."

deals exclusively with mitigation - no mention of adaptation: "Sustainable building strives to minimise the consumption of energy and resources for all phases of the life cycle of buildings. [ˇ­ ] It also aims to minimise any possible damage to the natural environment."

• green building, sustainable building
• guideline : sustainable building
• service life prediction : a large table in appendix 6