Building with natural stone pays off with the increasing lifetime of a building. A study by the Technical University of Vienna in 2005 shows this clearly.


The longer a building is used, the more appreciable the advantages of using natural stone as facade cladding and floor covering. This is the core statement of a study conducted at the Institute for Building Physics and Building Ecology of the Technical University in Vienna in 2005. The study compares the ecological and economic properties of various building materials.

Four facade constructions with natural stone, plaster, glass and aluminium were compared on the basis of an assumed lifetime of 60 and 100 years. Similar comparisons were made of four interior floor constructions with natural stone, ceramic tiles, wood and textile covering, and three exterior floor constructions with natural stone, concrete and asphalt for applications such as pedestrian precincts and paths.
The study takes all the production and maintenance costs into account in terms of durability, cost-effectiveness and functionality. The ecological comparison of the environmental aspects of the individual construction forms and building materials took the form of a life cycle analysis incorporating all steps – from the extraction of the raw materials to disposal and recycling.

The conclusion for all developers and investors: Buildings with natural stone facades are not only more prestigious, but also more economic and ecological than buildings with exterior claddings of aluminium or glass. The energy cost for the production, heating and cooling of natural stone facades is distinctly lower than the cost for aluminium and glass facades. In view of rising energy costs, natural stone brings the investor a clear benefit.
The results were similar for the other two applications: Interior floors of natural stone are more advantageous than parquet flooring or carpets, and natural stone floors outdoors performed much better than concrete floors.
Natural stone also achieved distinctly better figures than the other materials in both facade and exterior floor applications with an assumed lifetime of 100 years.

The comparison of German and imported natural stone for facade claddings showed that regional stones are much more ecological than imported materials due to the short transport routes. This becomes particularly clear in terms of the greenhouse effect and the amount of energy necessary for production, transport, storage and disposal, the so-called grey energy. Because imported materials often cover thousands of kilometres by sea and rail from the quarry to the installation location and cause many times more environmental pollution, the study suggests the use of local stones.