BuildGreen, Romania’s leading development, design and green building certification company, exceeded three million square meters assisted for sustainable certification. In addition, the company continued the international expansion process, obtaining sustainable certifications for real estate projects in the Czech Republic, Croatia, Lebanon and Slovakia.
”We see a trend in the new projects segment: besides the owner’s desire to achieve the highest level of performance, there is also a tendency to implement new and innovative technologies that lead to a higher level of energy efficiency and increased comfort. These include geothermal heat pumps implemented for the first time by Portland Trust at Oregon Park, as well as solar panels – geothermal or photovoltaic. At the same time, facilities for electric cars are being implemented at this time or an infrastructure is being created for the future. All this highlights a change in the developers’ vision towards medium and long-term investments”, says Răzvan Nica, managing director BuildGreen.
BuildGreen provided consultancy and successfully achieved, in the first half of this year, 21 sustainable certifications for a whole range of projects in Romania and also in Central and Eastern Europe and Lebanon. The newly obtained certification meant an increase of 25% in terms of counselled projects, compared to the 2016 year-end, while the total area of the certified or assisted projects increased by 15%.
The company also continued in 2017 the sustainable certification process for the entire portfolio of NEPI Rockcastle, the biggest real estate investor in Central and Eastern Europe, finalizing several reference projects, such as Promenada (pictured) and Mega Mall (BREEAM Excellent) shopping centres in Bucharest, City Business Center (Timisoara), Aupark Kosice, a mixed office-retail project with a total surface of 56,000 sqm located in Kosice, Slovakia, or the commercial centres owned by the fund in Constanta, Deva, Pitesti and Sibiu – the first green certifications obtained by building in these cities.
Among the most important projects completed by BuildGreen in 2017 are Oregon Park (BREEAM Excellent), owned by Portland Trust, and Globalworth Tower (LEED Platinum), owned by Globalworth investment fund, and Unirii View (BREEAM Excellent) office tower, built by Belgian investor Yves Weerts in downtown Bucharest.
”The operational certifications, for projects already completed, became an element of Corporate Social Responsibility as well as a comparative valuation element of portfolio assets. Also, setting minimum sustainability requirements for an entire portfolio owned by a real estate investor creates pressure for the less-performing assets to improve their quality”, says Răzvan Nica.
