The focus of the German SUSTAINABLE BUILDING Award (Bundespreis UMWELT & BAUEN) 2025 is on existing buildings. Sustainable new construction cannot sufficiently reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the use of resources or the amount of waste generated by the construction sector. We are therefore looking for energy-efficient refurbishments, modernisations, conversions, extensions and densification projects that combine climate change mitigation and adaptation, recyclability, energy efficiency and biodiversity with sufficiency strategies and social aspects. “The aim of the competition is primarily to demonstrate the compatibility of sustainability and climate change mitigation strategies along with the social dimension. Successful climate change mitigation means including all sections of the population. With this award, we want to promote construction and renovation projects that take social, ecological and economic aspects into account,” says UBA President Dirk Messner. Above all, results that can be transferred to other buildings and thus contribute to accelerating the transition in construction will be considered for the award.
The winning projects will be presented to the public and the media at an awards ceremony on 7 April 2025 at the Federal Ministry for the Environment in Berlin. They will become role models for sustainable building and can have a positive influence on political decisions. The award-winning projects will be presented in detail on the German Environment Agency’s website. Video portraits produced by the UBA will provide information to interested members of the public.
Categories and conditions of participation: The German SUSTAINABLE BUILDING Award 2025 is presented in the categories “Residential building”, “Non-residential building”, “Neighbourhood” and “Special award for construction products, construction technology or digital innovations”. The buildings must be exemplary and construction in Germany must have already been completed. In the case of neighbourhoods, partial completion is sufficient. The innovations for the special prize must be marketable. Projects can be submitted by all project participants such as property developers, architecture and planning offices, manufacturers or research institutions from now until 18 November 2024. Multiple applications in different categories are permitted. More information on the terms and conditions of participation, the application form and the award winners from previous years can be found online at: https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/bundespreis-umwelt-bauen-start .
Background: The current refurbishment rate for properties in Germany is not sufficient to meet climate protection targets. By honouring examples of best practice, the German SUSTAINABLE BUILDING Award 2025 promotes innovative technologies, a progressive architectural outlook and public appreciation of the raw materials, history, work performance and building culture manifested in existing buildings. New buildings constructed according to today’s efficiency requirements only make up a small proportion of the existing building stock and are therefore largely unable to reduce their energy consumption. Intensifying the construction of replacement buildings is not expedient in view of the associated use of resources. The preservation and upgrading of existing buildings must therefore become the standard.
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