Over 80% of industrial occupiers are asking about sustainable warehouse solutions and 60% of them would like their facilities to be green-certified, reveals Cushman & Wakefield in its Industrial Goes Green report on sustainability in the industrial sector.

The Vox Technology Park office building in Timișoara has obtained the BREEAM In-Use v6 sustainable certification with an Outstanding rating, the highest existent score accorded on a global level, thus being the first project in Romania with this ranking.

Every year, the number of BREEAM and LEED-certified warehouse buildings in Poland increases. There are several reasons for the growth of sustainable development in the sector. On the one hand, educated tenants put pressure on developers. On the other hand, developers themselves increasingly adhere to the decisions of the Paris Agreement, which sets out a global action plan to prevent global warming. In the latest development schemes, companies strive to reduce the negative impact on the environment through more thoughtful development planning and by reducing the carbon footprint. Currently, certification is particularly popular in the office sector. But warehouse developers increasingly strive to meet the BREEAM or LEED construction standards too. Often long before the completion of the scheme, warehouse developers try to demonstrate that the project meets the requirements of sustainable construction and ecology by obtaining pre-certification. Indeed, the new green construction standards for new buildings are slowly becoming the norm within the warehouse sector.

Four CTP buildings in Hungary have received the BREEAM In-Use Excellent certification withCTPark Arrabona - GYR1 in Győr having the highest score among the BREEAM In-Use certified buildings in Hungary. As a result of the comprehensive certification process covering the entire portfolio of the company, all of CTP's properties in Hungary have received BREEAM In-Use certification and 4 buildings have earned an Excellent rating.

CTP will modernise the Spielberk office complex near the Brno city centre. The aim is to lower energy consumption and ultimately reduce the carbon footprint of the site. CTP is investing almost €1.5 million (CZK 40 million) into modernising the energy system.

In September 2019, CTP announced its goal to certifiy its entire portfolio of industrial buildings according to the BREEAM standard, and in January began the certification process in six countries with local appraisers. CTP now announced the 80% milestone and the 100% certification of its country portfolios in Romania, Serbia and Poland.

AFI Europe Romania has finalized and completely sold phase I of AFI City, the first residential project developed by the company in Romania. The first phase consists of 190 apartments and 228 parking lots, and is located in northern Bucharest, in the Bucurestii Noi neighborhood.

BWI Group, a global automotive suspension parts design and manufacturing company, has moved into a unique passive building in Europe. The group's research and development centre will begin operations in Balice near Kraków, where advanced technologies will be developed to increase the functionality of shock absorbers. The developer, 7R, has prepared an energy self-sufficient facility for the company, using an advanced trigeneration system. The building will obtain a BREEAM Very Good certificate.

Skanska plans to build the first climate-neutral office building in the CEE region. The developer is going to use a solution based on structural timber, as wood is a natural resource that will help reduce the carbon footprint. Construction works on the office building located on Radlická Street in Prague are planned to begin in 2023. Skanska has made a global commitment through a climate target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2045, with a 50% reduction by 2030.

Westbridge Advisory International AG, the international entity of operating cost optimizer Westbridge Advisory, has converted a portfolio of six office buildings for Union Investment in Poland to green electricity. By bundling the entire supply with a single utility and the switch of the entire portfolio to green electricity, it was possible to reduce CO2-emissions by roughly 7,600 tons. The properties, located in Warsaw, Wroclaw and Poznan, have a total rental area of around 155,000 sqm and an aggregated annual electricity consumption of 25 gigawatt-hours.