Denmark: Bygningsreglementet(BR18) and LCA

Bygningsreglementet (BR18)

The Bygningsreglementet (BR18) calculation is considered for all buildings that require a building permit to enable them to report their environmental impact over a 50-year lifespan. All new buildings with an area above 1000m2 must comply with a limit value of 12 kg CO2e/m2/year. A voluntary low-carbon class can also be achieved where the limit value is set as 8 kg CO2e/m2/year.

What is included in the scope?

For a full list, and further details please check with the Bygningsreglementet (BR18) guidance where an overview of the parts of the building that must be included appears in BR18, appendix 2, table 6 and can be downloaded here: Appendix 2, Table 6 - Building parts for calculating climate impact

Completing an assessment for Bygningsreglementet (BR18)

Create a project and select the right calculation tool

Create a building project and select the 'LCA according to Bygningsreglementet' tool as the chosen calculation tool.

Create your first design and set up the LCA parameters

On project setup, please ensure Selecting Project Parameters.

• For the 'Service life values' choose 'Product-specific service life'.
• For the 'End of life calculation method' choose 'EPD-EOL Scenario, user adjustable', this opens the 'Country specific end of life scenarios', and you should set this to 'Denmark'.

Check the mandatory scope

The scope can be found above or in the guidance directly.

Fill in the calculation period

Set the calculation period to 50 years by opening the ‘Calculation Period’ and inputting 50 years.

Fill in the building area

Fill in the Building area question form by entering the appropriate areas. There are five different area definitions and each of these can be added with the relevant quantity depending on the area in question. The total reference area is based on the weighting of these areas. Further guidance on this can be found here: 1.3 Arealopgørelse

Input required material data (A1-A3)

Fill in your project information in One Click LCA by entering the design either manually or by importing your data (see different import options here; guidance for data import can be found here). If you need help finding the right datasets for your building materials, check our guidance pages here and here.

Generic BR18 data is available in the tool and can be found by applying 'BR18' as the data source in the material filters. The tool also includes standard value options under the 'HVAC components and equipment' category and includes options that can be input with the heated area as the quantity.

Mass data for the materials is automatically added to the detailed report.

Input annual energy consumption (B6)

Input energy as required by calculation scope for one year. This value will be multiplied by the calculation period for full-lifecycle results. The profiles that are available in the tool are provided by the Bygningsreglementet (BR18) guidance and represent different construction years/scenarios.