The German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB) is expanding its regional activities in Germany. In light of significant growth in recent years and the associated increase in member organisations, qualified certification experts, and collaborations with universities, local networking is increasingly becoming a focus. This strategic alignment aims to intensify cooperation with various stakeholders, such as member organisations, experts, and educational institutions.
A primary focus of the regional expansion is North Rhine-Westphalia, where the DGNB is establishing its own regional advisory board. Miriam Beul will support the DGNB's activities in this federal state going forward. Concurrently, cooperation with Hilmar von Lojewski as representative for Berlin is being intensified. Peter Bachmann will take on a comparable role, focusing on trades and specialist retail, to specifically address these target groups.
Dr. Christine Lemaitre, Managing Director of the DGNB Executive Board, emphasised that the association counts over 2,800 member organisations, more than 12,000 qualified certification experts, and collaborations with over 100 universities in Germany alone. She explained that this extensive network makes a stronger regional focus in their work increasingly relevant. The choice to launch the initiative fell, for pragmatic reasons, on Berlin due to its political relevance, and on North Rhine-Westphalia due to the DGNB's highest number of members and a strong foundation of existing partnerships.
Stronger presence and new bodies
With these measures, the DGNB aims for even closer networking with relevant stakeholders and a greater local presence. In North Rhine-Westphalia, a regional advisory board will be established, comprising resident DGNB members. An internal application phase has been initiated for this voluntary body, with the goal of holding the inaugural meeting and commencing work later this year.
Miriam Beul will support the DGNB in North Rhine-Westphalia in an advisory and operational capacity, particularly in coordinating and implementing networking measures. Beul, an experienced specialist journalist and communications expert with over 20 years of industry experience, runs her own networking agency for urban communication in Düsseldorf and is considered a prominent figure in the real estate sector. Hilmar von Lojewski, formerly a Chief Executive at the German Association of Cities (Deutscher Städtetag), will accompany the DGNB through his consultancy SOLO URBIS in political Berlin and on international matters. His professional career includes activities in construction and urban planning as well as international cooperation.
Peter Bachmann, the third representative, brings over 30 years of experience in the construction and real estate industry. Among other things, he is the founder of the Sentinel Haus Institute and was responsible for strategy at CircularSkills. His responsibilities at the DGNB include the interface with trades and specialist retail, where he is significantly involved in developing a qualification programme for skilled trades. For this purpose, the DGNB is establishing a working group with companies from specialist retail and the building materials industry. Initial pilot training courses have already been conducted, and the publication of the training programme is scheduled for early 2027.
Value-oriented cooperation
Dr. Lemaitre stated that with Miriam Beul, Hilmar von Lojewski, and Peter Bachmann, the DGNB is gaining personalities with high professional expertise and extensive networks who will directly support the association's work. She further emphasised that these representatives embody the values for which the DGNB stands, and they look forward to the collaboration.
