RealGreen: Unlocking the business case for green building
RealGreen: The business case is crystallising
Green building, far from being an operational burden, is taking over as a driver of value for developers, investors and tenants of commercial buildings as the business case continues to crystallise, was the resounding message at the all day CEEQA RealGreen Symposium preceding the ninth edition of the CEEQA Gala, attended by 120 business leaders and sustainability experts engaged in the New Europe property sector. However the private sector should not be left to find the solutions on its own and more regional and national political leadership is required to fast track this sea change in the green building debate.
A powerful and persuasive keynote by Lauralee Martin, Chief Operating and Financial Officer for global real estate consulting group Jones Lang LaSalle (now JLL) spelled out the “value creation” and “future proofing” possibilities in green building in where financial considerations were gradually superseding ethical considerations, a case supported by in depth presentations by Cisco Systems, Norton Rose (now Norton Rose Fulbright) and Deutsche Bank which unpacked the positive conjunction of the ethical case as a responsibility but also a talent magnet for employers in their selection of work space.
The presentations we accompanied by wide ranging panel discussions involving some of the sector’s leading real estate business and sustainability leaders.
The event was concluded with the presentation of four new CEEQA awards for green building and investment in the region. The award for RealGreen Building of the Year was won by MGPA’s retrofit of Warsaw’s Rondo 1 office building, with MGPA also picking up the award for RealGreen investor of the Year. The inaugural RealGreen Developer of the Year was Skanska Commercial Development Europe for their leadership of the issue in the region, while architects Chapman Taylor picked up what proved to be only their first award of the day with RealGreen Service Provider of the Year. The awards were judged by the CEEQA Jury alongside the main CEEQA awards, the judging was supervised by globally respected consulting firm Deloitte.
A small but high-powered fair involving many of the sector’s leading companies and organisations was organized as part of the event, including: Jones Lang LaSalle, Skanska, Deloitte, Norton Rose, Ghelamco, Colliers International, RICS, SwedeCenter, CBRE, EC Harris, Cushman & Wakefield, Strabag, Savills and the Financial Times.
For a full report on the output of the event visit our CEEQA RealGreen Symposium page.
