The Slovenian Government is looking at Level(s) as a way to reshape building sustainability requirements at a national level. At the same time as the Slovenian Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning was developing national sustainable criteria for buildings, Knauf Insulation started the construction of the Knauf Insulation Experience Center (KIEXC). It is a project especially designed to support the development of indicators that assess the environmental and social performance of buildings throughout their lifecycle. This was an excellent opportunity for the Ministry to follow the pilot project, from the initial design to final completion.

The new building has attracted considerable interest from the authorities as well as architects, but also the European Network of Green Building Councils, as an extra source of research for Level(s). It is moreover the first building in Slovenia to receive the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB) platinum certification.

According to Saša Galonja (Head of Construction Division, Spatial Planning, Construction and Housing Directorate at the Slovenian Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning), “the opening of KIEXC is a demonstration of Knauf Insulation’s pioneering approach to sustainable construction. The project gave us the opportunity to learn how an established certification scheme as DGNB works in our legal and built environment, and how the Level(s) framework is compatible with DGNB but also with our national sustainability criteria. This project represents a reality check for the application of new sustainability requirements in our country.”

In addition, the pilot project has enabled further benefits for Knauf Insulation: “It is a great opportunity for Knauf Insulation to be part of such an exciting initiative as Level(s) and it will be fascinating to see what impact it will have on national and international legislation” says Vincent Briard, Head of Sustainability of Knauf Insulation. “It helps us to understand the complexity of getting sustainability related data of construction products. Data about life cycle assessment, products related, air emissions or content declaration are still very scattered and data digitalisation through Building Information Modelling (BIM) files still need to be further developed” says Jean-Pierre Pigeolet, products and buildings sustainability manager of Knauf Insulation.

Slovenia is now in the second year of the development of a national sustainable framework for buildings and the first draft indicators based on Level(s) are being defined just now. As a result, a large number of meetings, presentations and workshops have taken place with a wide range of stakeholders to disseminate the Ministry’s contributions to and insights from testing Level(s). ​