Drees & Sommer is accredited to create building material inventories

Drees & Sommer is pleased to announce its accreditation to create building material inventories by the Luxembourg Ministry of Environment, Climate and Biodiversity. This accreditation allows the company to provide comprehensive material inventories, which is an important step towards sustainable construction and demolition processes and ensures regulatory compliance.

Providing a material inventory involves identifying and cataloguing all materials in a building, especially before demolition to facilitate separation and collection of components to be reused. This helps to better manage waste, maximise recycling and minimise environmental impact. In Luxembourg, the law requires the creation of such an inventory for new building and before the demolish of existing ones.

The legal framework for the material inventory in Luxembourg is set by the ‘Loi du 21 mars 2012 relative à la gestion des déchets’, which was derived from the EU Directive 2018/851. This legislation requires that, before the demolition of a building with a construction volume of more than 1200 m³ and the production of at least 100 m³ of waste, the various materials must be inventoried. For buildings with a volume of 3500 m³ or more, this inventory must be carried out by an accredited organisation. For new buildings with a volume of 3500 m³ or more, for which the building permit is issued after 1 January 2025, the client must keep a computerised register of the materials used, also known as an as-built file. This register prepares buildings for a more sustainable life cycle and simplifies maintenance, renovation and subsequent dismantling.

Material inventories offer tangible benefits for all project stakeholders: building owners, project managers and contractors. Logistical and financial advantages include optimising deconstruction phases, reducing costs through efficient sorting of materials, increase property value and saving time in work planning. Environmental benefits include easier sorting and reuse, as well as contributing to the development of the national circular economy. An accurate inventory makes it easier to recycle materials, transforming an environmental problem into a sustainable opportunity. Besides its legally mandatory necessity for demolition and new construction, resource inventories can also be used for BREEAM In-Use targets, which are sustainability benchmarks for existing buildings, or to develop circular economy strategies on a portfolio approach.

Dr. Marielle Ferreira Silva, Sustainability Consultant at Drees & Sommer Luxembourg, said: “We are proud to have received this accreditation. It highlights our commitment to sustainability and innovation in construction. With the building material inventory, we can identify the potential for future reuse of building stock at the same time help our customers to make their projects more environmentally friendly and resource efficient.”

Drees & Sommer offers added-value complete solutions that meet the specific requirements of each project. The company also handles operational implementation. Since 2017, Drees & Sommer is an international expert in material inventories through the group's company EPEA. With the new accreditation, Drees & Sommer is ideally equipped to support its customers in achieving their sustainability goals also in the Grand Duchy.