What is EN 17037?

DSV Headquarters featuring VELUX Modular Skylights - see case study

The new European Standard EN 17037 deals with daylight in buildings. Published at the end of 2018, it is the first Europe-wide standard to deal exclusively with the design for, and provision of, daylight. EN 17037 replaces a patchwork of standards across different European countries or provides one where no existing standard is present.

Daylight is important for the health and wellbeing of building users, for providing sufficient illumination to carry out tasks, and for giving a connection with the outdoors. Providing appropriate levels of daylight also helps in saving energy, by not having to rely on artificial lighting as often. All of these factors have driven EN 17037’s publication.

Are there existing daylight design standards?

Published at the end of 2018, after a decade or so of discussion and writing, EN 17037 is the first Europe-wide standard to deal exclusively with the design for, and provision of, daylight in buildings.

It replaces a patchwork of standards across different European countries, or provides one where no standard previously existed.

Some existing European Standards include daylight as a factor - for example, EN 12464-1 and EN 15193 - however, both of these also look at it in the context of electric lighting provision, and so EN 17037 is truly unique in focusing on the quantity and quality of daylight for building users.

When does EN 17037 come into force?

The exact date of adoption for EN 17037 depends on when it is incorporated into national standards frameworks. Standards bodies in each country must produce a national annex (NA) detailing local information that helps with applying the recommendations of the standard in the specific country.

VELUX Commercial have spent time understanding the calculation methods detailed in EN 17037 in relation to rooflights, and are on hand to provide technical support and answer any questions about how our products can improve daylighting in your commercial project.

For more information about the content of the standard, check out our post ‘What areas of daylighting design are covered by EN 17037?’.