Sponda Plc: Shopping centre Forum upgraded its BREEAM environmental certification rating to Very Good
Press Release
15 November 2018, at 10:00
Sponda Plc: shopping centre Forum upgraded its BREEAM environmental certification rating to Very Good
Sponda’s shopping centre Forum located in the heart of Helsinki, has been awarded BREEAM In-Use Very Good certification. The certification applies to the technical attributes and maintenance of the entire Forum block’s retail and office premises. Forum improved its certification rating by two grades compared to 2016.
“Upgrading our certification is a great achievement and we are tremendously proud of it. Forum is the best-known shopping centre in central Helsinki that has a long history and we are pleased to be able to perform at such a high level when it comes to environmental issues. Much of the credit belongs to our tenants. We have worked together with them to increase the waste recycling rate and reduce the shopping centre’s energy consumption,” says Katja Hatakka, Shopping Centre Manager at Forum.
The factors behind the fine result achieved by Forum include the property’s high level of energy efficiency and comprehensive energy efficiency measures, excellent public transport connections and services, the active development of maintenance processes and a comprehensive environmental policy that includes targets and practical measures. The tenants have also been actively informed of energy efficiency and provided with concrete assistance in the recycling of waste.
One area where strong efforts have been made is the loading platforms, where L&T’s environmental coordinator has been on hand to provide guidance to tenants on waste sorting. The excellent cooperation between tenants and service providers has led to an increase in the waste recycling rate of more than 20 per cent from the previous years. Forum’s waste recovery rate is 100 per cent, including the use of waste for energy production.
“We work hard to promote responsibility, and we also want to increase awareness of these matters among Forum’s visitors. In the future, we will communicate topics related to our responsibility via the Forum App, a new mobile application for Forum’s customers, as well as the shopping centre’s newsletter. This year, we are also again participating in the national Joulupuu charity campaign, which collects Christmas presents for children who live in challenging circumstances. The Forum shopping centre is the official Joulupuu campaign Christmas present collection point for the Helsinki region,” Hatakka says. The Joulupuu charity campaign will take place at Forum from 13 to 16 December.
BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) In-Use is an international green building certification system aimed at reducing the environmental impact of the use of buildings as well as the development of healthier working environments. The certification process takes into account the building’s indoor environmental quality and energy efficiency, among other things. Green Building Partners Oy was responsible for Forum’s certification process and auditing.
Sponda seeks international LEED® or BREEAM® environmental certification for all new property development projects and significant renovation projects. Sponda also seeks In-Use certification for its properties. Currently, Sponda has 18 certified properties and several certification projects in progress.
For further information, please contact:
Pirkko Airaksinen, Sustainability Manager, Sponda Plc, tel. +358 40 922 4220
Katja Hatakka, Shopping Centre Manager, Sponda Plc, tel. +358 40 152 1597
Sponda Plc is a property investment company specializing in commercial properties in the largest cities in Finland. Sponda’s business concept is to own, lease and develop retail and office properties and shopping centres into environments that promote the business success of its clients. The fair value of Sponda’s investment properties is approximately EUR 4.0 billion and the leasable area is around 1.2 million m².
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