The usage phase of a building accounts for a significant part of the Swedish real estate sector's environmental impact, which makes existing properties an important area to work with to establish the climate footprint of the real estate sector. Various policy instruments have been developed in line with this, of which the environmental certification system has become widespread, but mainly for newly constructed buildings. By conducting a literature study and an interview study directed at representatives of a selection of Swedish real estate companies, the current study aims to answer the following two questions:  -       What are the driving forces and motives for real estate companies to invest in environmental certification of existing buildings? -       What added values and challenges do expert representatives from real estate companies see regarding environmental certification of buildings during the usage phase? The respondents in the interview study are all active at Swedish real estate companies and represent different professional roles and expertise in the areas of environment, investment or property management.  The interview study confirms several of the motives, driving forces, added values and challenges that have been pointed out in the literature, but also shows that differences exist between respondents and within different areas of expertise. Overall, there was a positive picture of implementing environmental certification systems for existing buildings. The respondents’ common motive for applying environmental certifications for existing buildings was the demand from tenants. The certification work in existing buildings generates an added value of control and quality assurance as well as a communicative value to the tenant, according to the interviews. The main challenges with the certification work was the increased workload and need for access to internal resources in terms of manpower and time, the extent of which vary with the varying state of the buildings. There was a number of identified added values, for instance how the certification cost for an existing property was perceived as less expensive compared to that of certifying a new building. The author interprets that the main driving force behind the implementation was the growing interest in environmentally certified buildings among tenants, and that this is a powerful impact that could be further utilized. In conclusion, there are several underlying motives and driving forces for real estate companies to apply environmental certification systems for existing buildings, but the perceived utility depends on who is consulted and their professional role. The literature study and the empirical evidence show that ecological and economic benefits exist, but also that environmental certifications of existing buildings contribute to practical and administrative benefits. While the certification systems were associated with a number of practical and economic challenges, their extent was lower than expected. From an academic perspective, the study is important as new information about the use of environmental certification systems has been discovered, which may affect future development of the systems. Outside the academic perspective, the study can be used as a guide for, for example, real estate companies and consultants prior to environmental certification of existing buildings, which is important as it can mean savings of internal resources.

I Sverige har det funnits en utbredd bostadsbrist under de senaste decennierna och utvecklingen har skett mot större förtätning, målsättningen är att skapa städer med ekonomisk- och socialhållbarhet. Det bortses dock från att tätt planerade städer riskerar att inskränka på dagsljustillgången för de boende. Nordiska klimat med mörka vintermånader och solen som står lågt på himlen skapar en stor utmaning. Forskning visar att god tillgång till dagsljus är viktig för människors hälsa och välbefinnande och det är därför viktigt att skydda dagsljustillgången för boende i svenska städer. Trots detta så är den svenska lagstiftningen för skydd av dagsljus för befintliga bostäder svårtolkad med vaga riktlinjer på vad som kan anses som en rimlig minskning av dagsljustillgång.Denna studie undersöker den aktuella lagstiftningen i Sverige för skydd av dagsljusåtkomst i befintliga byggnader. Med fokus på befintliga bostadshus används resultatet från fördjupade fallstudier över två områden för att undersöka möjligheter för hur en framtida kravställning kan se ut. Förslaget på kravställningen diskuteras med hänsyn till nuvarande praxis.Studiens resultat påvisar att en förtätning av staden i många fall leder till otillräcklig dagsljustillgång i befintliga bostäder och att dagens kravställning för dagsljushantering är bristfällig. Att säkerställa tillräcklig dagsljustillgång i bostäder är nödvändigt redan vid planläggning. Studien visar på ett varierande resultat vid användning av nuvarande föreskrifter och allmänna råd givna av Boverket och den europeiska standarden SS-EN 17037:2018. SS-EN 17037:2018 påvisar ett resultat som är känsligare för förändringar i omgivningen. I kombination med att standarden beskriver den faktiska upplevelsen av ljuset i rummet gör det den till ett lämpligare mätetal för dagsljushantering. Om visionen för framtidens städer ska vara samma som idag bör kravställningen på dagsljus utvecklas. / Over the past couple of decades Sweden has suffered from a housing shortage and the trend towards densification due to ambition of creating cities with economic and social sustainability. It is often missed however that tightly planned cities run the risk of restricting daylight access for occupants. Nordic climates, with their relatively low solar angles and dark winter months pose a particular challenge. An increasing body of research however shows that good access to daylight is crucial to human health and well-being. As such, it stands to follow that protecting daylight access for those living in the city is of great societal benefit. Yet the current Swedish national regulatory structure for protection of daylight access in existing properties gives only vague guidance as to what constitutes an unreasonable reduction of daylight access and/or remedy when an unreasonable reduction in daylight access exists. The resulting uncertainty presents a degree of unwelcome risk to building projects.This study reviews the current state of Swedish legislation for protection of daylight access in existing buildings. With focus on residential buildings it uses results from in-depth case studies to examine possible structures for what a future regulatory framework might look like and discusses the proposal in the context of current Swedish praxis.The study found that in many cases, densification of the city leads to insufficient daylight in existing housing and that today's requirements for natural daylight are inadequate. Ensuring adequate daylight is possible already when planning and should be considered to create a society where human health is secured. The study shows varying results when using current Swedish regulations and the European standard SS-EN 17037:2018. SS-EN 17037:2018 demonstrates a result that is more sensitive to changes in the environment, combined with the standard describing the actual experience of the light in the room making it a more suitable measurement for assessing changes in daylight access for existing properties.

The climate issue is becoming increasingly relevant, and with that, the EU's greentaxonomy has been designed to support investors in defining environmentally sustainableinvestments. To meet the taxonomy, the business must contribute significantly to at leastone of the six environmental objectives, not significantly harm the remainingenvironmental objectives, and meet minimum requirements for social sustainability.  Environmental certification systems are used to measure a building's environmentalsustainability, but as the taxonomy becomes more relevant, the question arises of howthese systems can be used in taxonomy work or if they become irrelevant. In addition,industry professionals experience the requirements of the taxonomy as unclear. Thepurpose of the report is therefore to analyze difficulties, develop solutions, and investigatehow environmental certification systems for existing buildings relate to the taxonomy.Miljöbyggnad iDrift, BREEAM In-Use, and LEED O + M have been investigated using aliterature review, interviews, and a case study. The main challenges with the EU-taxonomy were found to be the large margin forinterpretation left to affected organizations, due to a lack of clarifications. Another centraldifficulty was that the taxonomy's purpose as a common language fails, partly due tocountries using different systems to measure the sustainability of a building, making itdifficult to compare sustainability on a global scale. Proposed solutions included acommon certification system, demonstrating green potential, and authorities needing totake greater responsibility in providing assistance. An important conclusion of the thesisis that buildings that are certified with the analyzed systems of this report are notautomatically taxonomy-aligned, even though these systems play a continued significantrole in the sustainability work.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to develop and evaluate an inspection model that will facilitate the work for Strängnäs Fastighets AB inspectors. Method: The method of this study consists of a case study in which the company´s routines was analyzed through site visits, interviews, review of the work routines and documents. The case study is supplemented by a literature study where, above all, legal requirements and to a certain extent research in the area. Results: The Analyzing of the routines resulted in the company having limited or no routines at all for inspection of the buildings. This meant that the work was based on response to complaints rather than proactive work. According to that background, a model was established based on other organization's inspection models as well as suggestions and ideas from the company itself. The model was then further adapted through tests and feedback from the company to be able to apply to as many types of buildings as possible. Conclusions: This study concludes that it is possible to customize an inspection model to some extent by the use of other organizations methods.