Four significant central European commercial properties owned by the funds managed by ING Real Estate Investment Management Central and Eastern Europe (ING REIM CEE) have gained the international BREEAM certificates for sustainable buildings.
Four significant central European commercial properties owned by the funds managed by ING Real Estate Investment Management Central and Eastern Europe (ING REIM CEE) have gained the international BREEAM certificates for sustainable buildings.
The certificates were granted to Campona Shopping Centre and Pólus Center in Budapest, and two objects in Prague Centrum Zlatý Andel and an office building BETA in BB Center (Building Beta).
'The obtained certificates indicate a high quality of these buildings. This is important to both the owner and the tenants as they can be assured these buildings reduce running costs and ensure a highly qualitative working environment', said Barbora Nosková from ING REIM CEE.
The buildings were assessed on nine aspects, such as materials used, energy consumption, health and well-being of the internal environment, access to public transport, the monitoring of water use, waste storage and sorting facilities.
The BREEAM assessment system was developed in 1990 by the Building Research Establishment Company and is widely used, especially in European countries. For instance, in Germany BREEAM is recognized by the International Council of Shopping Centres (ICSC) as an official assessment system for shopping centres. Today, 110,000 buildings around the world have a BREEAM certificate.
In Central Europe, this assessment system is still in its early stages. ING REIM is therefore one of the first parties that has obtained BREEAM certificates. Independent experts have assessed the selected buildings as the certification of all four commercial properties was executed by Dutch company Grontmij.
As buildings use 30% of the world’s materials supply, 12% of the world's water supply and have a 40% share in the global emissions of greenhouse gasses it is very clear why sustainable standards are vital for the real estate industry. Even though these sustainable buildings have higher construction costs, this is outweighed by several economic and environmental benefits and is reflected in the higher market price compared to other buildings.