COLOGNE, Germany - In an initiative aimed at helping designers build more sustainable buildings, the global testing and certification leader TUV Rheinland has joined forces with the international standards organization, GIGA (Global Innovations Green Algorithms).
Under the new partnership, some contents of TUV Rheinland's global Certipedia certificate database will be fed into GIGA's online material data hub, Origin, which includes certified, environment-friendly building materials and products. This will empower designers to easily find and source green, healthy and sustainable building products, thereby speeding up the process of creating efficient, healthy and sustainable buildings.
According to Holger Kunz, Executive Vice President Products at TUV Rheinland, this development represents a major step towards streamlining and accelerating the sustainability journey of today's building designers. "TUV Rheinland's Certipedia was specifically designed to be a user-friendly, online reference source for certification, making all the information referring to product and testing criteria available in one place. Combining it with GIGA's extensive, collaborative material data hub will transform the ease and speed with which designers can come up with a superior, sustainable building design that will continue to deliver results for years, and potentially decades to come," said Mr. Kunz.
TUV Rheinland's Certipedia database will be integrated into Origin's infrastructure in the fall of 2017. Suppliers and industry participants will be notified in advance of the public software release to allow time to prepare and understand the integration process and its benefits.
"Origin is the world's largest data integration hub for building products. Prioritizing transparency and reliability of data, Origin integrates product certifications directly from the world's leading certifiers, combines it with supplier data and connects it to building industry professionals globally. Partnering with TUV Rheinland brings high quality product data from around the world, making it easier to design, build and operate green and healthy buildings," said Ryan Dick, Founder and COO of GIGA.
Webinars will be provided to assist with on-boarding and to help suppliers optimize their management efforts and reach within the expanded Origin ecosystem. More will be revealed at the Greenbuild 2017 conference and exhibition taking place in Boston from 7-10 November.
About TUV Rheinland
TUV Rheinland is a global leader in independent inspection services, founded 145 years ago. The group employs 19,700 people around the globe. Annual revenue is more than €1.9 billion. The independent experts stand for quality and safety for people, technology and the environment in nearly all industrial sectors and areas of life. TUV Rheinland inspects technical equipment, products and services, and oversees projects, processes and information security for companies. Its experts train people in a wide range of careers and industries. To this end, the company operates a global network of approved labs and testing and education centers. Since 2006, TUV Rheinland has been a member of the United Nations Global Compact to promote sustainability and combat corruption. www.tuv.com
About GIGA
GIGA is an independent third party that combines the development of building standards with cloud software. GIGA's platform, Origin Data Hub, provides free access to transparent, connected data to support performance-driven, regenerative buildings. Origin integrates with certification bodies, 3rd party databases and auditors, allowing Manufacturers to manage product information in a single location, while making all data easily accessible to Architects, Designers and Specifiers.
For more information: Rebecca Best r.best@giga.build