DVS (Daylight & Ventilation Solutions) has become the first UK rooflight company to provide Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for all rooflight domes, continuous rooflights and large-area glazed roof constructions. The company is the sole UK supplier of the high quality German-made Lamilux range of daylighting products.

EPDs provide comprehensive information on the environmental impacts of products, allowing their contribution to the sustainability performance of a building to be assessed. These analyses, which consider the entire product life cycle, will be of particular interest to planners and architects aiming for Green Building certification of their buildings, or for certification in line with BREEAM and other international sustainable building standards.

The Declarations are issued subject to the specifications in the BS EN 15804 standard and allow valid conclusions on the environmental impact of a product to be drawn – from production and raw materials, through the consumption of resources throughout the product's service life, to its removal and disposal – from the cradle to the grave.

EPDs are already part of many building certification systems and are recognised by numerous international building certification systems, such as DGNB, BREEAM and LEED. The European framework for sustainability assessment of products according to BS ISO 21930 states that: "To allow assessment of the sustainable use of resources and to evaluate the impact of buildings on the environment, Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) should be referenced, where available."

EPD certification of the Lamilux products was carried out in Germany, by ift Rosenheim, a leading testing and certification specialist for construction products. Sustainability consultant Martin Blumberg, said: “ Whether or not a building is sustainable, is largely determined by the materials used. Lamilux has clearly demonstrated, in attaining these EPDs, that its products play a positive role in the holistic sustainability consideration of buildings.”

In Blumberg's opinion, the Lamilux products have a positive effect on a building's climate and environmental footprint; for example, due to their excellent recovery quota, and the high proportion of recyclable components. This is in addition to the impact on functional and economic performance, resulting from excellent thermal insulation, watertightness and low maintenance and repair costs over the building's life cycle.

Martin Blumberg continued: "All of these aspects have now been exhaustively examined and quantified in the EPDs." The individual results for the Lamilux products can be retrieved directly from a database (Ökobau.dat/Information portal for sustainable construction) and included in the draft designs of sustainable building. This makes the work of planners and architects much easier, as they now easily access the values,and can include them in their sustainability planning."

For further information, visit: www.dvsltd.co.uk