Level(s): the first-ever European framework for sustainable buildings

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Level(s): Focus on the entire building life cycle

We offer:

• Expert support in preparing a life cycle cost analysis with our specially developed life cycle assessment tool LCA Online
• Personal advice on implementing sustainability goals in your construction project
• Information on certification and assessment systems for sustainable building, such as DGNB, LEED, BREEAM, GRESB, etc.

What exactly is Level(s)?

Level(s) is a Europe-wide assessment and reporting framework for sustainable buildings.
Level(s) promotes sustainable design and life cycle thinking in construction and provides a universal approach to measuring sustainability performance and supporting improvements at all stages of a building’s design and life cycle: Level 1: Conceptual Design – Level(s) can be used to prioritize attention to sustainability issues and review existing designs against the selected indicators.
Level 2: Detailed design and construction – At this level, Level(s) allows a quantitative assessment of the planned sustainability performance, a comparison between different design options and monitoring of the construction.
Level 3: Completion and use phase – Both on the construction site and in the completed building, Level(s) can be used to monitor processes and assess the actual building performance.
Level(s) is not a certification or benchmarking system, but an instrument that provides a uniform and common language for the sustainability performance of buildings.
This allows construction projects across the EU to be guided by common information on material efficiency and sustainability in the construction sector.
Level(s) provides a common reference point for voluntary reporting and thus also facilitates data comparisons between projects, countries or real estate portfolios.
A focus on a common reference point also paves the way to a climate-neutral building stock – a goal that can only be achieved by joining forces.
The framework is aimed at planners, architects, building contractors, product manufacturers, certification systems, building users, investors and other stakeholders.
It provides users with a simple entry point to the circular economy and to the consideration of the entire life cycle of a building, thus supporting the creation of a sustainable building stock.

Which values are measured with level(s)?

In addition to energy efficiency, Level(s) also focuses on greenhouse gas emissions, the efficient use of water resources, the life cycle of materials, the contribution to health and well-being and resilience to climate change and the ability to adapt to it.
Costs and market value are also included in the assessment.
The framework is divided into three areas with different objectives:

• Resource utilization and environmental performance over the entire life cycle of a building
• Health and well-being
• Costs, values and risks

The evaluation framework is based on 6 macro-objectives, which in turn are divided into 16 indicators.

The level(s) criteria

1. greenhouse gas emissions along a building’s life cycle
Minimizing CO2 emissions over the entire life cycle, taking into account energy consumption during the building’s use phase and grey energy.
1.1 Energy efficiency of the utilization phase (kWh/m2/year)
1.2 Life Cycle Global Warming Potential (CO2 eq./m2/year)
2. resource-efficient and circular material life cycles
Optimize building design to support lean and circular operations.
2.1 Parts lists, materials and service life	Document and optimize building material consumption and quantities.
2.2 Construction and demolition waste and materials	Minimization of construction and demolition waste in order to optimize the use of materials.
2.3 Design for adaptability and renovation	Establish replacement cycles and flexibility to adapt to changes.
2.4 Design for deconstruction, reuse and recycling	Create potential for deconstruction as an alternative to demolition.
3. efficient use of water resources
Use water efficiently, especially in areas with identified long-term or projected water stress.
3.1 Water consumption in the use phase (m3/person/year)
4. healthy and comfortable rooms
Creating buildings and spaces that are comfortable, attractive and stimulate productivity. This includes four aspects of indoor climate quality:
4.1 Indoor air quality	Measure certain parameters and pollutants in the room air.
4.2 Time outside the thermal comfort range	Determine the level of thermal comfort (Thermal Comfort).
4.3 Lighting and visual comfort	Check the quality of artificial and natural light and determine the associated visual comfort (Visual Comfort).
4.4 Acoustics and noise protection	Does the building fabric have the capacity to isolate residents from internal and external noise sources?
5. adaptation to and resilience to climate change
Future-proof building performance:
5.1 Protection of user health and thermal comfort	Adaptation to future climate changes with effects on thermal comfort.
5.2 Increased extreme weather risk	Increasing the resilience of the building and its resistance to extreme weather events (coastal areas & fluvial and pluvial flooding).
5.3 Sustainable drainage	Improve building design to reduce the likelihood of pluvial/fluvial flooding events in the surrounding area (i.e. increase sustainable drainage).
6. optimization of life cycle costs and value
Long-term consideration of the total life cycle costs and market value of more sustainable buildings, including:
6.1 Life cycle costs (€/m²/year)	Consideration of the total costs for construction, operation, maintenance, refurbishment and disposal.
6.2 Value creation and risk factors	Transparent integration of sustainability aspects in market value assessment and risk assessment processes.

An e-learning tool explaining how Level(s) works is available for interested parties on the European Commission’s website.
In addition, a calculation tool is available to users to simplify the calculation of a project’s sustainability performance.
You will also find further documents on the use of Level(s) here.
User Manual 1 is aimed at laypersons and newcomers, User Manual 2 is aimed at professionals in the construction industry who want to integrate Level(s) into their construction project.
User Manual 3 explains how to use the 16 indicators and provides tools for their application.
Level(s) is open source software and is available free of charge.

The LIFE Level(s) project

Together with 8 European sustainable building associations, the LIFE Level(s) project aims to help make sustainability mainstream in the construction industry.
The aim of the project is to establish Level(s) in the construction industry throughout Europe and to encourage assessment and certification systems to base their criteria on Level(s).
The project also supports the alignment of public procurement criteria with Level(s).
Level(s) should be anchored as a point of reference for sustainable construction, and the use of standardized indicators should strengthen the power of sustainability in the construction industry.
Some certification systems have already integrated Level(s) and are now basing their certification criteria on the same indicators that Level(s) uses to measure building sustainability.
In the development of the 2018 version of the DGNB criteria catalog, for example, the recognized European standards to which Level(s) also refers have already been taken into account.
Some new aspects from the Level(s) requirements were also integrated into the development of the DGNB’s refurbishment concept.
For the final elaboration of Level(s), the system was applied in various construction projects in order to collect recommendations for final adjustments in the final version of the concept through practical use and to develop guidelines on how the Level(s) indicators can be integrated into project planning throughout Europe in order to make it easier for stakeholders to use Level(s).
Project partners are the German Sustainable Building Council (
DGNB), the Green Building Council España (
GBCe), the French
Alliance HQE-GBC, the Croatia Green Building Council (
GBCC), the Dutch Green Building Council (DCBC), the Green Building Council Finland(GBC Finland), the Italian Green Building Council(GBC Italia) and the Irish Green Building Council(IGBC).

Level(s) in context: EU Circular Economy Action Plan

Level(s) is rooted in the EU Circular Economy Action Plan and the sustainability goals of the EU Green Deal to create energy-efficient buildings and promote energy-efficient renovations.
The action plan is one of the most important building blocks that should contribute to achieving climate neutrality by 2050 as part of the European Green Deal.
The action plan, which was presented by the European Commission in March 2020, focuses on the sectors where the most resources are used and where there is a high circular potential.
Construction is one of the seven key sectors identified: The construction sector alone accounts for over 35% of the total waste generated in the EU, so it is fundamental to extend the lifespan of buildings, optimize the carbon footprint of construction products and set minimum requirements for resource and energy efficiency – which is exactly where Level(s) comes in: Level(s) offers assistance to increase the energy and material efficiency of buildings and thereby reduce overall CO2 emissions.
In order to get closer to the goal of a fully circular economy, the principles of circularity and sustainability must be considered in all phases of a value chain, i.e. throughout the entire life cycle of a building – from design and planning through construction and use to end of life and dismantling.
By integrating Level(s) into sustainable building planning, you are taking a big step towards a successful circular economy and thus also towards a climate-neutral construction sector.
If you would like to align your project with the Level(s) reporting framework or are interested in other assessment systems for sustainable construction, please contact us!

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