Green building and sustainability, one of the biggest 2019’s trends in construction industry sector both in Romania and abroad, remains one of the best real estate practices in 2020 as well.
The implementation of sustainable development norms has become over the years a widespread practice worldwide in the construction and real estate market. Many sophisticated systems were designed in order to reduce energy consumption and to increase occupant comfort for residential, office, retail and industrial buildings all over the world. In this context several sustainability assessment methods for buildings had gain a lot of popularity among real estate developers.
Which are the most popular green certifications worldwide?
The major areas of international sustainable practices are: efficiently using energy, water, and other resources, protecting occupant health and improving employee productivity and reducing waste, pollution and environmental degradation. Briefly, sustainable building is about meeting the housing and infrastructure requirements of today, without compromising the earth’s resources that will be available for future generations.
In order to meet all the requirements for green certification a building will be analysed, in terms of construction materials and techniques, building processes, technologies and innovations implemented and many other specific features.
The most popular sustainability assessment methods for buildings are:
LEED: is one of the leading programs for green buildings and communities worldwide applicable for all building types and all building phases including new constructions, interior fit-outs, operations and maintenance and core and shell. Projects pursuing LEED Certifications earn points for various green building strategies across several categories and based on the number of points achieved, one of four LEED rating levels are earned: LEED Certified, LEED Silver, LEED Gold and LEED Platinum. Currently 122.669 projects have earned a LEED Certification all over the world, out of which more than 100 projects in Romania.
BREEAM: is one of the world’s leading sustainability assessment method for master planning projects, infrastructure and buildings, recognizing and reflecting the value in higher performing assets across the built environment lifecycle, from new construction to in-use and refurbished ones. Similarly to LEED Certifications, projects pursuing a BREEAM certification will follow a checking process by impartial experts, of the assessments of the building or project to ensure that it meets the quality and performance standards of the international sustainability scheme. Based on the results the project will receive ratings and will earn one of the international BREEAM certification level: Acceptable (for in-use scheme only), Good, Very Good, Excellent and Outstanding. Currently 571.555 projects have earned a BREEAM certification worldwide from 85 countries.
EDGE: is a green building standard and a certification system available in more than 160 countries which helps to determine the most cost-effective options for designing green within a local climate context, being applicable for buildings of all vintages, including new constructions, existing buildings and major retrofits. In order to earn and EDGE certification, a project must reach the EDGE standard of 20% less energy use, 20% less water use and 20% less embodied energy in materials compared to a base case building.
WELL: is the premier standard for buildings, interior spaces and communities seeking to implement, validate and measure features that support and advance human health and wellness. Currently there are over 4000 WELL certified construction projects in over 58 countries.
Green Certifications for buildings in Romania
According to specialists, in Romania over 250 buildings and real estate projects have been certified green, according to one of the above mentioned international sustainability schemes (BREEAM, LEED, WELL and EDGE).
In 2019 alone more than 40 office buildings, shopping centers, warehouses, residential and industrial spaces were certified in our country, out of which about 75% are located in Bucharest followed by Cluj-Napoca, Timisoara and Brasov.
Last year has brought us the first two green certifications BREEAM Outstanding (the higher rating in BREEAM sustainability scheme) earned by the retail industry and multiple sustainable certifications for several office buildings as well. The reason for multiple green certifications stands in the developers’ desire to maximize the long-term benefits provided by sustainable building, as, according to specialists, the real estate projects that achieve a high rating of sustainable certifications will register high benefits in terms of energy efficiency (the reduction of energy consumption with 25%-35% on average), occupants’ comfort and employees’ productivity.
Vitalis Consulting is building trust for a sustainable future
We pride ourselves with a significant number of important construction projects which have earned over the years international green certifications, most of them according to LEED and BREEAM international sustainability schemes. Among the projects coordinated by Vitalis that are benefiting from green certifications are: The Bridge I and II (LEED Platinum), Globalworth Tower (LEED Platinum), The Light office building (BREEAM Excellent), Stefan cel mare Office Building (BREEAM Excellent), Gara Herastrau 4B office building (BREEAM Excellent), Zone313 office building (BREEAM Excellent) and many others.
For which green certification is your new project designed?