Adrian Pop, General Manager of ADP Green Building, spoke with Property Forum about the role of financial institutions in increasing the sustainability of real estate projects and the growing demand for certifications from international real estate investors.

Urbanity Campus Tachov, located west of Plzeň, became the first industrial complex in the Czech Republic to receive an international BREEAM Communities certification. It has now completed the three-year certification process with the final rating of “Excellent”. The construction of the second phase of the project is now launching, which will offer 55,000 sqm of leasable space.

Adrian Pop, General Manager of ADP green building, talked to Property Forum about the demand for sustainability assessments of buildings and the company’s expansion into the ESG services segment, which is increasingly requested by real estate companies. In 2022 alone, the company completed 108 BREEAM certifications, more than double the previous year, for commercial projects across Romania.

The Horizon development group has announced a commitment to build all new projects in accordance with internationally recognized BREEAM accreditation criteria for sustainable development. In 2024, projects to be submitted for BREEAM accreditation will include the Blízká project in Prague’s Karlín district, the third phase of Čámovka in Čimice, Arboret in Záběhlice, and both phases of the Aura Statenice project. 

Green certificates were something sufficient years ago, but in the present market reality, they fail to cover the social and governance parts of the ESG principles. Some of them are also seriously outdated – this is how one can summarize a panel discussion on developments at last month's European ESG Property Forum 2023 in Warsaw.

UBM Development Czechia is implementing all its current residential projects with BREEAM certifications. This is an ecological certification that confirms the standard of buildings in terms of sustainability and environmental friendliness. With BREEAM certification, UBM is currently building the Arcus City residential complex in the Prague-Reporyje district and the Astrid Garden residential project in Holešovice, Prague 7.

Nearly all players in the commercial real estate market share the view that the pressure is growing on corporate leaders to have an ESG-compliant stock and operation. But the majority of them stop at „E” i.eg. being more energy efficient and environmentally friendly. This was one of the takeaways of last week’s Budapest ESG Meetup, organized by Property Forum in partnership with workcloud24.

In the past 12 months, there were 154 buildings in Romania that received green certifications under the BREEAM or LEED standards, accounting for one-third of all buildings that were certified in the past 14 years, according to data from green building consultancy ADP.