Environmental issues
Sustainability and energy efficiency has played a crucial role
during the conception of the Spiegel-building. It will meet the
high requirements of the Hafencity's "gold medal" for
environment-friendly buildings and thereby also comply with the
demands of the international label "green building".
As a result the energy consumption will be less
than 100 kWh/m²a, which is much lower than the current standard
(243 kWh/m²a) for office buildings in Germany.
As energy consumption is only one aspect of the assessment of a
building's overall sustainability, further criteria are evaluated
such as the use of public resources, the selection of building
materials and the creation of a healthy and comfortable working
environment. The rules and requirements of the "gold medal"
influenced the work of all parties involved in designing and
engineering the building. The gold standard could only be
guaranteed through a broad mix of different technologies and a
careful and extensive process of selecting building materials.
Key technology for the limitation of energy consumption is the
extensive use of solar- and geothermal collectors and their
combination with a cooling and heating system, which is integrated
in the concrete floor slabs.