GBC Quartieri® is the certification protocol developed by GBC Italia for projects in areas subject to redevelopment or new expansions, which promote the environmental sustainability performance of the territory, infrastructure, facilities and sustainable buildings among the primary objectives.

GBC Quartieri recognizes the value of interventions that promote an integrated approach to quality of life, public health and respect for the environment. The certification encourages best practices oriented towards the analysis of the territory, the choice of areas in relation to environmental preservation, promoting the connection to public transport, the relationships of areas with pre-existing structures, the creation and development of social services and functions.

GBC Quartieri was not created as an urban planning tool, but it can constitute a useful tool for municipalities that could adopt it for the promotion, incentive and sustainable redevelopment of the urban territory, or for the drafting of development guidelines.

FIELD OF APPLICATION

GBC Quartieri applies to both new construction and urban redevelopment interventions without imposing a prescriptive scope either on the specific intended use or on the size of the area that is intended to be certified. Precisely thanks to a matrix of relationships that originates between the various prerequisites and credits of the protocol, the system manages to create a complete and measurable set of connections which allows it not to have to impose a minimum or maximum size.

It is believed that, in order for GBC Quartieri to be applied:

• the minimum reasonable size of the project is at least two buildings;
• the maximum size of the project is such that it can be managed in a single process, otherwise it is advisable to divide it into several areas. For very large surfaces (over 130 ha) it is therefore suggested to divide the project into two or more parts in order to make the certification process of the project itself more fluid and controllable;
• the area to be certified is equipped with, or inserted in, a multifunctional context.

ASACERT – ACCREDITED INSPECTION BODY 

On behalf of GBC Italia, the certification body that owns the protocol and holds the certification scheme, ASACERT, can therefore carry out specific inspection and verification activities. Accreditation by GBC Italia presupposes compliance with pre-established requirements linked to the structure, process skills and quality of service, which also provide for ACCREDIA accreditation for specific schemes, such as independent third-party bodies (type A) for inspection activities (technical control and project validation) and as certification bodies for quality management systems in the EA28 sector.

Once the verification activity of a project has been assigned to ASACERT which is an ACCREDITED INSPECTION BODY, the design/construction team will deliver the evidence for the inspection activities (in the field and documentary) to GBC Italia, so that they can be carried out all necessary checks. The inspectors will then deliver the lists, verification forms and inspection reports to GBC Italia and ASACERT, in turn, will carry out the final congruence and completeness checks and deliver an verification report to GBC Italia. We will then proceed with a final review of the process: in the event of a positive result, Green Building Coucil Italia will establish the level of certification that can be assigned and carry out administrative checks, and then grant certification of the project via certificate.