THE FRAMEWORK
How the assessment works
The Planaletix Sustainable Design & Performance Digitalisation Maturity Assessment (SDP) evaluates sustainability as a digitally delivered capability across ten dimensions: the governed sustainability strategy and toolset, energy and building performance modelling, environmental simulation, embodied carbon and life-cycle assessment, performance-based optioneering, certification and compliance management, model-integrated sustainability data, operational performance and post-occupancy evaluation, ESG and client reporting, and the capability that carries it all. It measures whether performance claims are backed by simulation, carbon numbers by verified data, and certification by governed evidence.
Sustainability sold without a governed, tool-supported service line is greenwash risk, and performance claims without simulation are guesses. Certification reviewers, tender evaluators and ESG auditors increasingly test both. The SDP measures whether your firm's sustainability numbers would survive that test.
10 DIMENSIONS · 100 QUESTIONS
Explore the dimensions and maturity levels
WHO IT IS FOR
Built for AEC leadership teams
The SDP is designed for the leaders accountable for how an AEC firm designs, proves and reports performance:
- Managing Directors and Design Directors of architecture and engineering practices
- Sustainability Directors and heads of environmental and building-physics teams
- Energy modellers, simulation leads and computational designers
- Development Directors setting carbon, energy and certification targets for their portfolio
- Owner-operators tracking measured performance and ESG disclosure
- Contractors and EPCs responding to EPD-mandated and carbon-scored tenders
- Cost consultants integrating carbon and whole-life cost into advice
- ESG and investor-relations leads who depend on project-level data
The SDP evaluates sustainability as a repeatable firm capability — not one flagship certified building. It applies to design consultants, EPC contractors, developers, owner-operators, construction contractors and cost consultancies of any size, in any country. At the start you select your firm type — or several — and the assessment automatically presents only the dimensions applicable to your selection, renormalising the scoring so your result is comparable and fair: a design consultant or EPC is assessed on all ten dimensions; a developer or owner-operator on the seven it sets, commissions and reports; a contractor on six; a cost consultancy on four.
STANDARDS ALIGNMENT
Mapped to the standards you work to
Every dimension of the SDP framework maps to the schemes, methods and evidence shaping sustainable design delivery:
- LEED v5 — carbon prerequisites mandatory from July 2026, with around half of points tied to carbon
- BREEAM, Estidama Pearl Rating, Saudi Mostadam, Qatar GSAS and WELL certification schemes
- GHG Protocol and whole-life carbon assessment guidance (RICS WLCA, EN 15978)
- ISO 14040/14044 life-cycle assessment and EN 15804 Environmental Product Declarations
- CIBSE and ASHRAE modelling practice, including ASHRAE 90.1 Appendix G and CIBSE TM54
- UAE Net Zero 2050, Saudi Green Initiative and GCC giga-project EPD-mandated tenders
- KPMG Global Construction Survey 2025/2026 — 90% of clients demand sustainable options; 71% expect stricter regulation
- RICS Digitalisation in Construction 2024 — only a quarter of carbon work is digitally supported
WAYS TO TAKE IT
Self-assessment, validation or a full programme
THE FRAMEWORK AT A GLANCE
Sustainable Design & Performance Digitalisation: all 10 dimensions
- D1 Sustainability Strategy & Digital Tooling — risk gate
- D2 Energy & Building Performance Modelling — risk gate
- D3 Environmental Simulation
- D4 Embodied Carbon & LCA
- D5 Performance-Based Optioneering
- D6 Certification & Compliance Management
- D7 Model-Integrated Sustainability Data
- D8 Operational Performance & Post-Occupancy
- D9 ESG & Client Reporting
- D10 Sustainability Capability & Integration
QUESTIONS
Frequently asked questions
We already certify buildings — do we need this?
Certification is one of ten dimensions. The assessment measures whether the modelling, carbon data and evidence behind your certifications are governed and repeatable — the difference between winning credits project by project and running a sustainability capability.
We are a developer — is it for us?
Yes. Select "Developer" at the start and the assessment scopes to the seven dimensions a developer is accountable for — strategy, carbon targets, optioneering decisions, certification, operational performance, ESG reporting and capability — and skips production modelling.
Why does energy modelling gate the result?
Because performance claims without simulation are guesses. If modelling capability is below the threshold, strong scores in certification or reporting overstate the firm's real maturity.
Who should answer the questions?
The person accountable for sustainability delivery — typically the Sustainability Director or a Design Director — ideally after consulting modellers, the certification lead and delivery teams. Answers save automatically.
How long does it take?
75–90 minutes for the full 10 dimensions; less where firm-type scoping reduces the set. It can be completed over several sessions.
Is our data secure?
The report is generated in your browser. Answers and scores are stored in Planaletix's secured assessment record for your engagement and are never shared.