Green office space in CEE and SEE set to grow: JLL

The trend towards more sustainable office development in Central and Southeastern Europe is gaining ground, according to new research presented at Mipim by Jones Lang LaSalle.

Over 500,000 m² of office space under construction in CEE and SEE is at various stages of application for green certification, demonstrating that the trend is now becoming the norm for future developments, JLL said.

The CEE and SEE region currently has 670,000 m² of certified office buildings, of which 35% are in Prague, followed by Warsaw, Bucharest and Budapest, according to the firm’s Going Green in Eastern Europe report . Warsaw in particular has a large pipeline of development due for 2012-2014 that is committed to sustainability, the research findings show. In Hungary, 100% of the pipeline stock for Hungary that is under construction and due for delivery by 2013 will be green.

The most popular and widely used sustainability standards in CEE and SEE are BREEAM and LEED, accounting for 64% and 36% of existing office stock in the region respectively. For office stock under construction, 32% will be LEED certified and 68% will opt for the BREEAM system. Most office developments, notably in Warsaw, will be certified according to BREEAM standards.

JLL has some 20 green accredited professionals in CEE and SEE and more than 1,000 globally.

‘A sustainable building will quite quickly come to mean a quality building,’ said Kevin Turpin, LEED Green Associate and Head of Research for CEE & SEE at JLL. ‘Green offices will be proxies for quality offices. The economies in terms of rents, yields, and valuations will follow naturally.’