DS Flexhal’s uncrowned Danish champion in BREEAM®

With his insider expertise, analytical acumen and motivation to work with sustainability, Saúl Déez Lozano plays a key role in achieving Prinsessen’s BREEAM® Excellent certification. 

Text: Mathilde Haugstrup From Andersen

It was not initially on the cards for the biotechnology engineer from Mexico to work in construction. Today, however, Saúl Diez Lozano is a contract manager at DS Flexhal, where he works daily with the sustainable construction standards that our customers demand now more than ever.

Saúl’s interest in sustainability emerged when he was a newly qualified engineer, and while specialising in this very field, he was introduced to the construction industry and the DGNB and BREEAM® sustainability standards that he works with today. 

Prinsessen has been handed over

At the beginning of March, project manager Jeppe Ramskov Jeppesen and the rest of the DS Flexhal team were able to hand over Prinsessen. The logistics building for Taulov Dry Port takes its name from its location in Prinsessens Kvarter in Fredericia. With this development, DS Flexhal is aiming for BREEAM Excellent certification. However, simply because the project has been handed over does not mean that Saúl’s work on the certification is complete. 

The certification process will continue for some time to come. The next step is to compile the final documentation and calculations into a comprehensive report, which can then be submitted to BRE for approval in a few months. 

While DGNB is the most common benchmark for sustainability in construction projects in Denmark and Scandinavia, BREEAM® is a British certification used more widely at an international level. The certification is owned by BRE, which has its headquarters in the United Kingdom. It is a world Saúl knows inside and out from his previous role with the company. This experience, combined with his passion for sustainability, makes him an expert in what it takes to secure BREEAM® certification. 

An important role from start to finish 

Saúl is involved in the DGNB and BREEAM® projects from design through to construction. He describes his own role as a kind of facilitator. The most important thing for him is being able to help, advise and answer his colleagues’ questions, and that is his responsibility from the moment the tender reaches DS Flexhal until the documentation is submitted to BRE.

Saúl greatly appreciates the collaboration between everyone involved in the construction projects. He finds the construction phase of a project particularly exciting because it involves spending a great deal of time on site. Knowledge sharing is his particular strength, and being able to share his expertise and experience with both contractors and subcontractors means a great deal to him. 

“What is great about the construction phase is seeing the buildings become a reality and how quickly it all happens. At the same time, the entire foundation of a project is laid during the design phase, so that part is also extremely important,” explains the project manager. 

Since January 2023, Saúl has been involved in the construction project in the Princess’s Quarter in Fredericia and its anticipated BREEAM® certification. 

From Mexico City to Sønder Onsild 

Saúl Díez Lozano and his girlfriend live in the village of Sønder Onsild, which is located south-west of Hobro and only a short drive from the DS Flexhal office. While his girlfriend is from Aalborg, Saúl himself grew up in a city on a somewhat different scale. He is originally from Mexico City, where he studied biotechnology engineering until 2013. From there, he moved to the United Kingdom and completed a master’s degree in sustainability at the University of Leeds. It was also here that his interest in the construction industry, and consequently BREEAM®, arose. His sustainability studies led Saúl into the world of construction, and he worked at BRE as an auditor for five years.

Following the United Kingdom’s departure from the EU, he and his girlfriend moved from Leeds to North Jutland. Here, Saúl worked as a sustainability consultant and, contrary to his enjoyment of collaborating with different people, worked exclusively from his home office. That was until he secured a job at DS Flexhal in 2023. 

“At one point, my girlfriend saw a job advertisement from DS Flexhal in which they mentioned BREEAM®, and that caught my attention. It was not, and still is not, particularly common to build using BREEAM in Denmark. I thought: This is a great opportunity to get a job where I can meet people and have some colleagues instead of sitting at home,” Saúl explains. With a wry smile, he adds: “And, of course, I got the job.” 

Flexhal’s secret weapon 

Saúl was employed by BRE in 2017, and since then the company has grown steadily in line with the demand for BREEAM® certification and the EU’s stricter requirements concerning sustainability documentation.

At BRE, Saúl worked on formalising the BREEAM® certifications for which he now collects documentation and submits applications at DS Flexhal. In this way, he has been on the receiving end of the reports that he now helps to submit. 

“I first worked as an auditor, reviewing documentation and determining whether it was correct. I then worked as a consultant, advising companies and developers seeking certification,” says Saúl. 

“Now I am responsible for actually implementing the measures and preparing the documentation required to achieve BREEAM® certification,” he adds. 

Through his various roles within BREEAM®, Saúl has gained insight into the considerable difference between simply approving documentation and having to carry out and compile all the underlying calculations. It is precisely this insider knowledge that makes Saúl a genuine secret weapon for DS Flexhal. 

Biodiversity scores highly 

DS Flexhal’s logistics facility for Taulov Dry Port in Fredericia is to be certified as BREEAM® Excellent – the second-highest sustainability rating on the BREEAM scale. An important part of achieving this certification concerns the building’s surroundings and the development’s impact on them. For example, there are stringent requirements to make a significant difference in supporting and enhancing biodiversity around the development. 

“Biodiversity carries the greatest weight in the BREEAM® scoring system. DS Flexhal has therefore also worked with a biologist who assessed the development site and recommended several effective measures that could enhance local biodiversity,” says Saúl.

The measures include preserving as many young trees and shrubs as possible. Where it has nevertheless been necessary to fell them, they have been retained in piles that can provide habitats for insects, amphibians and small mammals. 

Energy-efficient and future-proofed 

Another essential consideration in connection with the certification is the building’s energy consumption. Optimising a building’s energy efficiency can significantly reduce its carbon footprint. The approximately 35,000-square-metre roof at Prinsessen has therefore been prepared for the installation of solar panels. The building’s indoor climate has, of course, also been taken into account with regard to both the working environment and energy savings.

”The ventilation system has been optimised, and the solar-control glass was selected with a view to preventing overheating. We have also focused on making sensible and healthy choices regarding individual materials such as adhesives, insulation, paint and sealants,” explains Saúl. 

The project in Prinsessens Kvarter has also placed emphasis on a future-proofed water management strategy that takes into account more frequent periods of rainfall in the future. 
At the same time, priority has been given to using products covered by environmental management systems such as ISO 14001 and BES 6001, while all timber is FSC- or PEFC-certified. 
For example, the building’s distinctive blue mineral wool panels are covered by BES 6001 certification, which indicates that social, economic and environmental factors are taken into account throughout the panels’ entire production process. Choosing these particular panels therefore earns valuable points in the BREEAM® assessments. 

The hard work begins now 

Saúl is looking forward to continuing the work on Prinsessen and securing BREEAM® certification. It can take many months after a project is handed over before all the documentation required for certification has been collected.

“It is a long process, and there are of course some challenges along the way. The BREEAM® manual is international, which means that it is not adapted to how things work in Denmark. We cannot always resolve matters exactly as specified in the manual, even though we achieve the same result, and BRE can be a little inflexible in that regard,” explains Saúl. 

When BRE responds to the submitted material, various corrections will most likely need to be made or new documentation collected. Saúl’s work on the project will therefore continue for a little while yet, and he is pleased to be spending more time on the construction site with his colleagues. 

“The team at Prinsessen has been really good, especially considering that many of them, including the subcontractors, have never worked with BREEAM® before. Having to work in a new way is always a challenge, but people have been excellent at collaborating and helping one another,” he says. 

Another certification on the way 

Spring remains busy for the contract manager. Other certifications need to be obtained, which means more documentation must be collected. Among other things, Saúl is also working on DS Flexhal’s logistics facility for T. Hansen in Middelfart. In February, DS Flexhal broke ground on T. Hansen’s 68,708-square-metre warehouse and administration building. As with Prinsessen in Fredericia, project director Jeppe Ramskov Jeppesen is leading the project. He, Saúl and the rest of the DS Flexhal team are aiming to have the building certified to DGNB Silver. 

On this construction project, the photovoltaic system in particular will play a role in the DGNB certification, for which Saúl will be responsible for documentation from the start of the project through to handover. At the same time, he contributes his important expertise to the Group’s sustainability team, which is working to establish a clearer strategic direction for the DS Group’s ongoing sustainability work. 

In addition to his work on the construction site, Saúl is active in the Group’s sustainability team. Saúl’s systematic approach and experience with documentation are an important part of the sustainability team’s future work on carbon accounting and ESG reporting. In 2023, he also represented the team in GOLDBECK’s Sustainability Challenge with a proposal for a system combining solar panels with a green roof. The idea progressed from among approximately 1,088 other entries and reached the second round of the competition.