All new buildings built by Siemens Real Estate (SRE) will be ‘environment-friendly’ and have energy saving systems, the company announced on Monday at the EXPO REAL fair in Munich. The real estate subsidiary of the Siemens Group, which develops office and retail properties in over 40 countries, added that it already invests over EUR 2 bn per annum in research related to sustainable development.

All new buildings built by Siemens Real Estate (SRE) will be ‘environment-friendly’ and have energy saving systems, the company announced on Monday at the EXPO REAL fair in Munich. The real estate subsidiary of the Siemens Group, which develops office and retail properties in over 40 countries, added that it already invests over EUR 2 bn per annum in research related to sustainable development.

The company said it believes that it 'has an obligation to help combat climate change' because buildings account for around 40% of energy consumption in Europe, according to data from the German energy agency DENA.

SRE expects to make considerable cost savings through the move in terms of both energy and water consumption. 'SRE has already identified millions of euros-worth of sustainable savings,' said Rainer Kohns, the head of Siemens’ green building activities. 'This will also mean much lower ancillary costs for tenants,' he added.

SRE said that its new projects in Munich, Shanghai and Vienna all comply with high-quality environment-friendly standards. In Vienna, Siemens Real Estate is developing its new Austrian headquarters, which will bring together all its operating groups on a single site. The new Siemens City Vienna, to be completed by 2010, will cover an area of more than 485,000 m2 while offering total usable floor space of 140,000 m2. Total investment in the project is expected to reach EUR 185 mln.

Siemens said that it plans to increase energy-saving measures in its existing properties through its Natural Resources Management project. This is ‘aimed at reducing energy and material consumption in existing buildings while increasing the proportion of renewable energy used.’

The company reported sales of EUR 1.71 bn in 2006 and a net income of EUR 122 mln. SRE owns assets valued at more then EUR 5 bn.