Sustainability
The building has the Environmental Quality Guarantee Seal and the Biosphere Certificate
The building’s sustainability
The Disseny Hub Barcelona is committed to the most stringent environmental standards in order to ensure its building meets the highest levels of energy efficiency and savings. The Catalan Energy Institute (ICAEN) has awarded it the A-Rating Certificate for energy use. The building also has the Government of Catalonia’s Environmental Quality Guarantee Seal (DGQA) in the cultural facilities category, as well as the Biosphere environmental and social guarantee certificate.
Insulation
The structure and its use of the slope of the land—70% of the building is semi-underground—were designed to improve the building’s insulation and thermal and acoustic performance. The use of recycled materials was an important sustainability factor during its construction.
Solar panels and LED lights
The building’s roof is equipped with photovoltaic solar panels, which have the capacity to produce up to 85% of the electricity needed to light the building. The lighting in the building—with an area measuring almost 26,000 m2—is in the process of being replaced. Currently, 70% of the facilities now have energy-efficient LED lights. The motion detectors and timed flow devices also guarantee reduced energy consumption.
HVAC system
The building’s HVAC system is powered by the DistriClimate network, which supplies several buildings in the 22@ district. This decentralised system saves up to 50% of CO2 emissions and promotes more sustainable energy consumption by reducing the consumption of fossil fuels and refrigerant gases. It also uses renewable energies from urban solid waste recovery plants and a “free cooling” system that harnesses sea or river water.
Most of the building’s glazed façades have solar control films that repel almost 70% of the heat coming from solar energy. This enhances the thermal comfort of the spaces inside the building (which is especially important for museums and cultural heritage conservation centres), while also reducing cooling energy consumption.
Water resources
Regarding water resources, the building’s sanitation system has rainwater and groundwater cisterns for recovery and reuse of the rainwater collected on the roof and groundwater, thus making it possible to consume less drinking water. The building also has water control and regulation systems inside: the faucets and toilet tanks have flowmeters and flushing control systems to avoid wasting water resources.
Organisational sustainability
Beyond these measures, the Disseny Hub Barcelona is committed to organisational savings and efficiency by pooling resources and services. The management and joint, flexible use of the available resources and areas enhance this space and its strong commitment to serving society.
In line with this commitment, the Disseny Hub Barcelona is constantly innovating to ensure that the savings measures implemented during its construction are carried on in the centre’s day-to-day operations. To do so, it is making different sustainability initiatives part of its everyday activities through awareness-raising campaigns; employee training to encourage sound sustainable habits; promotion of environmental best practices in terms of consumption, materials recycling and waste treatment; promotion of sustainable mobility and the use of public transport, etc.
These tips are shared with both the Disseny Hub Barcelona’s employees and visitors through internal and external communication actions. The ultimate goal is to incorporate all these criteria into the centre’s activities and events in order to guarantee their sustainability and contribute to spreading the culture of sustainability to the rest of society.
For example, the 2024-2025 programme of events includes three exhibitions held at the same time in the same space: Espai A on the building’s ground floor. This entails energy savings in climate control and lighting while also optimising human resources, given that the same team manages visitor access and information for all three exhibition spaces.
