ICSC hails retail sustainability standard

Five European shopping centre have achieved the first ever pan-European sustainability standard endorsed by the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), the global trade association of the shopping centre industry, in less than 12 months.

The standard, launched by BRE Global last year supported by ICSC after rigorous testing by a number of its member companies, currently has a further 27 retail projects across 10 countries being assessed.

Multi Development and Redevco have achieved the standard on two centres each and Unibail Rodamco, has secured the standard on one.

BRE Retail gives developers a clear assessment of the performance of their buildings, covering a broad range of environmental issues, including overall use, energy use, water, building materials, waste, occupant health and well-being, transport and pollution.

According to Derk Welling at Redevco, a founder member of the ICSC European Sustainability Group, 'It is a relief to work with a common pan-European standard rather than dealing with a patchwork of local and national standards.'

The BRE Retail standard is broken down into two stages. The assessment of the design of a new build, extension or major refurbishment results in an interim certificate. The final certificate is only issued on an assessment when the building is completed.
Ermine Amies, managing Director for ICSC in Europe, said: 'ICSC members have really supported this pioneering work, submitting a large number of pilot projects which made the testing and improvement of the standard more rigorous.'

BRE Retail supports sustainable new development, but Amies acknowledges that the vast majority of shopping centres across Europe were built before the drive to 'go green' began. Many of these older generation shopping centres are run unsustainably and ICSC is now working with BREEAM to help develop a new standard called BREEAM In-Use.

The BREEAM In-Use standard helps building managers reduce the running costs and improve the environmental performance of existing buildings and has been developed to encourage better building management and investment in existing building stock.

Amies added: 'Having established an efficient standard for measuring performance on new buildings, and with new European directives on the horizon to force developers and shopping centre management to reduce carbon emissions on existing buildings, we are now working to encourage take-up of the BREEAM In-Use scheme across the European shopping centre industry.'