New UW/H building certified as sustainable construction

The wooden hybrid extension building of Witten/Herdecke University (UW/H), which was put into operation last year, has been officially recognised for its sustainability. A plaque to this effect was presented to the university and will be on display in the entrance area of the new building in future.

A comparable timber hybrid building of this size is (still) unrivalled in the country. "We are a sustainable university in terms of teaching and research. Now we are delighted that all of this is also taking place in this unique, new and sustainably certified building, which also provides impetus at the location and positively motivates others to follow suit," says President Prof Dr Martin Butzlaff. "And fortunately, we are not alone with this sustainability concept. Whether from politics or the construction industry - we are regularly approached about this project because there is so much interest in sustainable construction and building with wood," adds Chancellor Dr Jan Peter Nonnenkamp.

Assessment system for sustainable construction is one of the most comprehensive systems of its kind

What it really means to construct a building that meets high sustainability standards became clear during the certification process, which began with the completion of the new building in September 2021. Witten/Herdecke University chose the Assessment System for Sustainable Building (BNB), which was developed by the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community and is one of the most comprehensive systems of its kind. In addition to ecological aspects, it also scrutinises building economics and socio-cultural factors in equal measure. It also includes site characteristics as well as technical and process quality. This results in almost 50 characteristics to be assessed, each of which is subdivided into quantitative and qualitative factors. As UW/H had already decided during the planning process to apply for certification for the new building, the relevant requirements were taken into account from the outset by the responsible architects Markus Lager and Markus Willeke as well as the construction company in charge, ZÜBLIN Timber.

"We are proud that the building we constructed successfully met the demanding criteria for BNB certification. We prepared and submitted extensive documentation for the certification process so that the auditing body could examine all the factors to be assessed. As the BNB criteria were tightened up again a few years ago, this was one of the first projects for us to meet the new requirements in this category," says Simon Pfeffer, Technical Division Manager at ZÜBLIN Timber, about the challenging months following the inauguration of the new university building.

There are many characteristics of a sustainable building

When it comes to the keyword "sustainability", it makes sense to emphasise ecological aspects. The new UW/H building scores highly here with its use of wood as a building material, as this binds CO2 and thus minimises the building's global warming potential. This goes hand in hand with certified sustainable material extraction, which is also automatically sustainable and contributes to the promotion of biodiversity. It is also important to consider how much energy a building requires during operation. Here, the construction is around a third below what comparable buildings require and therefore performs very well.

From an economic point of view, the life cycle costs - i.e. all costs from construction to management to demolition measured against the gross floor area - must be considered. The UW/H's timber hybrid building achieves the maximum number of points thanks to its low-tech concept, which minimises the need for maintenance. As this is a teaching building, it was also analysed how the interior quality affects the educational concepts now and in the future. This requires architectural flexibility, for example, which is very well provided here due to the possibility of easily moving the interior walls.

Sustainability according to the BNB standard also includes other factors, such as resistance to natural hazards, public accessibility and good project preparation.

Facts and figures about the building

• Type: New campus extension in timber hybrid construction
• Construction time: 5/2020 - 9/2021
• Gross floor area: around 7,000 m²
• Certification: Silver according to the current BNB standard
• Total costs: € 26.7 million
• Contract sum for building: € 22 million
• General contractor: ZÜBLIN Timber GmbH
• Main building material: 1,200 m³ certified spruce wood from sustainable forestry (PEFC), approx. 10,000 timber construction elements (incl. façade made of natural larch wood)
• Extract from the spatial planning: around 300 study places for students in different variations, nine seminar rooms, multi-storey library, café with lounge area, event room for up to 350 people, 5 office corridors with around 100 workstations.