LINK Kompass ®

We help you navigate in the sustainability landscape!
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The sustainability compass helps you to identify the shortest and most effective way to achieve your sustainability goals in a project.  The aim is to find the optimal amalgam of high environmental ambitions, social sustainability, and economic profitability in a workshop together with clients and key professionals.

Through close cooperation with our customers, we create an understanding of business, ambitions, and possibilities.

Using the sustainability compass , you assure that already in the early phase of the project, not only you have built a good overview of relevant guidelines and requirements, but also a comprehensive understanding of the wishes of stakeholders.

In short: LINK Kompass helps you to outline the shortest and most efficient way to achieve your sustainability goals in a project.

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Why?

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By using LINK Kompass in the early phase, property developers can get an overview of key sustainability measures in the entire process of the project.

It ensures that only necessary analyses and assessments are carried out, and at the right time, and that only the optimal measures are selected and incorporated in design. This will effectively enhance the design process and add more value to the project.

“With a structured and holistic approach, one avoids suboptimizing in single areas. This approach enables you to zoom out, assess and prioritize, which then allows you to implement measures in the most effective areas of an individual project”, explains LINK's sustainability manager Arne Førland-Larsen.

The compass can be used in different ways during the design process: it can either be used to ensure that the central sustainability goals of the project are followed up, or as a dynamic process to self-check and ensure you are always on the right course for the project's level of ambitions. If certain design choices are already made that reduce the level of ambitions in individual sustainability themes, considering the overall desired sustainability ambitions, Kompass can be helpful in assessing whether those choices are justifiable, or to identify their consequences and the undefendable reduction of project’s ambitions. Working in this way, you ensure what you do in the project is constantly measured against the ambition, and that the ambition is verifiable when seen in combination with the set of goals and measures in the project. By using LINK Kompass in the early phase of the project, you as a property developer can get a good overview of key sustainability measures in the entire process of the project.

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How?

A compass workshop is carried out with the client (property developer, municipality, county council), and key professionals in the project (ARK, LARK, RIV, etc.), and it is led by a process manager at LINK Arkitektur. The workshop process is always the same in all projects, but its content varies and is dependent on the client's needs, complexity, and size of the project.
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A workshop with key professionals focuses on discussions about the project’s key sustainability goals. During the workshop, you will set goals within all the sustainability themes, together with providing concrete measures for achieving those goals. The compass is an all-encompassing method to challenge each individual project to set the highest possible level of sustainability goals. It does so, by comprehensively incorporating different aspects of climate-friendly architecture, circular architecture, and biological diversity besides health-promoting, lively and safe environments.

The Tool

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LINK Kompass is a digital screening tool that can be connected to various frameworks as a best-practice method for working with sustainability in building and district projects.

For example, UN17, the EU's Taxonomy requirements, Breeam, DGNB, the Nordic Ecolabel, the real estate sector's road map.

The compass can also be implemented together with the initial aims and qualities of project - by which the project’s delivery is planned for. The compass makes it easier to highlight both essential and optional measures, that assures the highest possible sustainability impact in the project per invested kroner.

The steps in a workshop

1-2-3

STEP 1

The 5-step model

  1. Choose a framework (The project's own goals/checkpoints/overall qualities, BREEAM, DGNB, FN17, Taxonomy requirements, etc.)
  2. Define the overall vision for the project (strategic level)
  3. Define the focus areas within the 14 sustainability themes (see next page)
  4. Define concrete measures or necessary investigations within the selected focus areas (operational level)
  5. Quality assurance – Audit.

STEP 2

Download the report from the workshop and share it with participants for further comments, elaborations, and other supplements.

STEP 3

  • Outline Visions, goals and concrete measures for the building's/area's sustainability goals based on the received report and comments.
  • Forward the proposals to the client
  • Review and discuss the proposals at a subsequent meeting
  • Make the concluding decisions on visions, goals, measures, and other requirements.
  • Finally, share Kompass results with the client via a digital tool (desktop and mobile).

14 themes

01. Environmental certification

An environmental certification documenting that a building, construction, or area has implemented tasks to ensure increased sustainability.

02. Climate adaptation

To minimize the negative effects of climate change, it is necessary to have climate adaptation considerations for buildings, districts, and other relevant areas. This means that depending on the geographical position, you need to implement different climatic scenarios. Studies such as solar and wind studies, calculation of solar gain, and (thermal) indoor climate provides a good basis for your choices of relevant climate adaptation strategies.

03. Greenhouse gas reduction

The resulting greenhouse gas emissions from the building industry, and related facilities and areas, have led to a considerable increase in global warming, and its irreversible consequences on the environment and life on Earth. We thus believe that the maximum reduction of these impacts is crucial in every project. This includes the whole spectrum of a building’s life from construction, including transport, energy, and material use, to its operation and disposal at the end of its life. 

04. Energy-smart design

Districts and buildings must be designed following their local climatic conditions. This includes close considerations of the building’s orientation, designing with solar and wind conditions, as well as incorporating scenarios for future climate change. Our strategy is based on the Crypto Pyramid model following these actions sequentially: reducing heating and cooling requirements, maximizing the efficiency of electricity consumption, utilizing solar energy, and lastly, selecting the energy source.

05. Materials

Materials must withstand and respond to use (wear and tear) and (un)expected climatic changes (possible extreme weather conditions) without losing their functional or aesthetic features. We prioritize utilizing renewable materials, avoiding scarce material resources, and choosing materials that are suitable for future material reuse and recycling.

06. Circular strategies

Circular strategies address all aspects of a circular economy in a project and aim to keep products, components, and materials at their best use and with the lasting highest value. These include considerations on rehabilitation or demolition, decision-making on resource utilization in demolition and construction phases, and reuse of components. We highly recommend that you choose flexible solutions that can be adapted to possible future patterns of use.

07. Blue-green strategies

A blue-green strategy is considered one of the best ways of contributing to (urban) biodiversity and ecosystem services. Additionally, alternative measures such as daytime water management, which includes strategies for harvesting, re-directing, or draining water, can act as an important economic, environmental, and social resource. These alternative measures namely include integrated water-efficient elements, rainwater/ wastewater reuse, etc.

08. Green Structure and Biodiversity

Strengthening green structures and biodiversity in the local environment of the project is a key aspect that needs to be assessed within a multidisciplinary structure including landscape architects. Establishing or preserving multifunctional green surfaces provides good microclimatic conditions, and better air quality and sound environments. Green roofs contribute to the digestion of daily water, the reduction of flooding risks, and create better microclimates

09. Transport and Mobility

Every project should allow for access to urban functions and facilities regardless of the use of the building (i.e., housing, workplaces, community service, and culture). Projects also need to address and provide good conditions for sustainable modes of transport (pedestrian and bicycle paths), and public transport as well as drop-off for deliveries. We highly encourage you to investigate alternative methods for reducing parking areas in the project.

10. Safety and Security

Safe and secure spaces have both a higher experience and economic value. We focus on architecture that can provide conditions for perceived safety through visibility, mindful spatial cohesions, and orientability. One way to create a safe environment is to design spaces that allow for a variety of use and possible activities. Securing urban spaces and buildings contributes to well-functioning urban spaces.

11. Function and Use

Architecture should respond to both the current and future needs of its users. The way an area/building interacts, internally and with its surroundings, depends on its prerequisites for use and social interaction. To create long-term attractiveness for the area/building and fulfill the different needs of the users, it is necessary to account for enough design flexibility - spatially and programmatically.

12. Identity and Equality

We believe optimal goals for how the area/building is experienced and how it can be made available to different groups in society can be achieved through a close dialogue, or in a workshop, with the customer and interest groups. We look at aesthetics, cultural expressions, symbols, or spatial aspects that affect the experience for users. Accessibility and inclusion are two core focus points for empowering the areas/architectural design to be appealing to everyone in the community.

13. Health

Norwegians spend over 80% of their time indoors. We consider measures to assure health-promoting environments that can make a big difference in people's quality of life. A healthy indoor climate provides good conditions for concentration, productivity, rehabilitation, and overall well-being of the inhabitants.

14. Additional gain

The additional gain is the extra added value created beyond what is expected in the project. In the early phase, we identify the potential for creating extra value and getting the highest effect out of the used resources in the project, once it is at its disposal. We assess which stakeholders (how and when) are important to involve in different phases. Finally, we review the integrity of the project and consider other measures that can provide additional benefits to the initially achieved objectives.

LINK Kompass Packages

Package 1

Project vision and level of ambition involves a workshop with the customer during which together we define an overall sustainability strategy, with a sustainability vision and objectives at overarching company level, at portfolio level or at a (specific) project level.

Delivery

“Sustainability program version 0” which contains:

  • Sustainability vision for the project, company, or portfolio
  • Sustainability goal setting for the project, company, or portfolio.
  • Overview of the most important sustainability goals/focus areas that capture all relevant goals in the UN's 17 sustainability goals (SDGs). In the further process, these will be assessed with concrete measures to achieve the vision and goals.

The starting point for the work is the customer's existing sustainability strategy for the company, overall visions and requirements from stakeholders, banks, investors, customers, framework conditions from authorities, etc.

With this package we ensure:

  • that everyone works in a transparent and goal-oriented structure, in line with the customer's overall sustainability strategy.
  • that risk is minimized in relation to target fulfillment of requirements in todays and future markets, particularly external stakeholders, tenants, investors, and banks.
  • that the sustainability strategy and overall goals are precise and provide a clear basis for an effective project development.
  • that the desired sustainability goals are achieved most efficiently with the lowest possible use of resources for project development (in both engineering and execution areas).

Workshop process

The workshop is led by a process manager in LINK who is the customer's contact person in the task. The process manager is the customer's contact person throughout the process and is responsible for:

  • Collecting initial facts from the customer and entering the information into LINK Kompass as a preparation for the workshop.
  • Assembling the same group for the task. This means that the field expert needs to be involved both before and during the workshop.
  • We recommended that the customer participates in the workshop, together with key professionals and stakeholders for the company, portfolio, or project.
  • Following up the workshop, sending over minutes from the workshop which contains a summary of the vision and objectives, and short follow-up on team meeting to review the strategy proposals.

Workshop agenda

  • Discussion and qualification/ concretization of the project vision.
  • Discussion qualification/ concretization of sustainability goals.
  • Discussion and qualification/ concretization of focus areas within the 14 sustainability themes in LINK Kompass. This provides an initial screening and qualification of the project's most important sustainability goals.

Cost

Get in touch for a price estimation for your project.

Depending on the scope, the costs vary and from project to project.

Package 2

Project Vision and Ambition Level + Measures & Impact Assessment involves a workshop with the customer in which we define an overall sustainability strategy together, besides a sustainability vision and objectives at overarching company level, at portfolio level or at a (specific) project level. We discuss and choose concrete measures for achieving the vision and objectives besides assessing the overall effect of the chosen measures. We then make a qualitative assessment of whether the selected measures will accomplish the project's vision and goals.

Delivery

“Sustainability program version 1” which contains:

  • Sustainability vision for the project.
  • Sustainability objectives for the project, company, or portfolio. Overview of sustainability goals/ focus areas that must be qualified with concrete measures to accomplish project’s vision and goals.
  • Overview of key measures, design measures, analyses and documentation that must be provided for (/during) the design (process).
  • Overview of the effect of selected sustainability measures.

The starting point for the work will be decisions from package 1 Project vision & level of ambition and/or the customer's existing sustainability strategy for the company, overall visions and requirements from stakeholders, banks, investors, customers, framework conditions from authorities, etc.

With this package we ensure:

  • that everyone works in a transparent and goal-oriented structure, in line with the customer's overall sustainability strategy.
  • that risk is minimized in relation to target fulfillment of requirements in todays and future markets, particularly external stakeholders, tenants, investors, and banks.
  • that the sustainability strategy and overall goals are precise and provide a clear basis for an effective project development.
  • that the desired sustainability goals are achieved most efficiently with the lowest possible use of resources for project development (in both engineering and execution areas).
  • that the necessary sustainability measures to accomplish the desired goals have been found and well-described.
  • that the chosen measures satisfy and document the chosen ambition systematically and thereby avoid the risk of "greenwashing".

 

Workshop process

The workshop is led by a process manager in LINK who is the customer's contact person in the task. The process manager is the customer's contact person throughout the process and is responsible for:

  • Collecting initial facts from the customer and entering the information into LINK Kompass as a preparation for the workshop.
  • Assembling the same group for the task. This means that the field expert needs to be involved both before and during the workshop.
  • We recommended that the customer participates in the workshop, together with key professionals and stakeholders for the company, portfolio, or project.
  • Following up the workshop, sending over minutes from the workshop which contains a summary of the vision and objectives, and short follow-up on team meeting to review the strategy proposals.

Workshop agenda

  • Discussion/summary of the project vision, sustainability objectives and the project's most important sustainability goals
  • Discussion qualification/ concretization of measures and the assessed effect of the measures in comparison to the objectives
  • Assessment of the overall effect of the measures within all sustainability areas in comparison to the project's vision

Cost

Get in touch for a price estimation for your project.

Depending on the scope, the costs vary and from project to project.

Package 3

Project follow-up that is built on the defined sustainability programs resulting from the workshop package 1 and 2. The aim of the sustainability program is to sharply define the project's guidelines and objectives for sustainability. Project follow-up means a concrete follow-up plan for the project which ensures that sustainability goals are followed up in various phases of the project. This can be formulated according to the common frameworks of sustainability follow-up plan and/or an environmental follow-up plan (according to NS 3466:2009). The plan may also include a BREEAM pre-analysis or follow-up meetings/presentations, etc.

With this package, we ensure that all necessary measures for reach the project’s goal are followed up during various phases of the projects.

Delivery

The delivery depends on the project's needs. Examples of follow-up deliveries LINK offers are:

  • Follow-up plan on sustainability goals
  • Environmental follow-up plan (MOP) in accordance with NS 3466:2009
  • Pre-analysis in BREEAM NOR
  • Follow-up meetings
  • Presentations etc.

Format

Project follow-up will depend on the customer's requirements. The format is usually determined for the individual project, but it could typically consist of:

  • A summary of measures in a “follow-up plan on sustainability goals/ MOP/ Pre-analysis”
  • A document delivery of “follow-up plan on sustainability goals/ MOP/ pre-analysis” and a short follow-up team meeting to review the chosen measures.

Cost

Get in touch for a price estimate for your project.

The costs vary somewhat from project to project, depending on the scope.

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