RICS Sustainable Building Certification Statistics Europe: Going for Green

means certified new and existing buildings

Published 19 June 2012

According to RICS' publication, the market for certification of existing buildings is still under

development in Europe, but some pioneering examples could maybe set the example and buck

the trend.

The report Going for Green: Sustainable Building Certification Statistics Europe was

launched today at Consense 2012 in Stuttgart.

This is the second year that the Sustainability working group of RICS in Germany collects

and comments on the data displayed by the four leading international certification systems

BREEAM, LEED, HQE and DGNB, with the aim of creating greater market transparency by

providing an up-to-date pan-European overview with regard to 'green' certification of

buildings.

According to the RICS professional group, whilst today there is unanimous agreement among

policy makers, academia and real estate professionals on the importance to tackle carbon

emissions in the existing stock, in practice, certificates for new buildings still outnumber

certificates for existing buildings in Europe.

The energy saving potential is huge but demand for certification of existing buildings is still

low. This is partly due to the challenge that processes within existing buildings can not be as

easily 'steered' as in new build, where they can be aligned with potential certification from the

start of the project. Comparability, transparency, value preservation and maximisation

represent key factors for investors. Certification of new build is already a recognised tool

which addresses these factors thus simplifying decision-making.

That this could rapidly change can be seen in the case of the US, where successful LEED

certification of new build and resulting higher rents and fewer void periods have put the

existing stock under such pressure that it simply had to catch up. In 2010, more existing

buildings were registered for certification than for new build for the first time.

With this publication, RICS also showcases some best practice case studies of existing

buildings' certification in Germany, France and Belgium. These examples includes two

buildings in Frankfurt: the 19th century Junghof, the seat of RICS Deutschland (awarded

LEED Gold) and the most comprehensive retrofit project in Europe to date: the headquarters

of Deutsche Bank which were refurbished between 2007 and 2010 (awarding LEED

Platinum).

The refurbishment of the 17th century building at Oude Houtlei 140 in the historic centre of

Ghent, Belgium, demonstrates that it is possible to achieve the BREEAM in-Use 'Excellent'

rating even with a listed building. Finally, the regeneration of the impressive 97 meter high La

Tour Prisma, which forms part of La Défense in Paris, France, is set to become another

success story of certification of an existing high rise building in Europe.

“To further push the topic of sustainability in real estate it is important not to solely focus on

lighthouse projects but to also tackle the existing stock. As the figures in the 2012 survey

illustrate, this trend is now clearly reflected in current certification practice.”

Rüdiger Hornung MRICS, Chairman of the Professional Group Sustainability of RICS

Deutschland

“The trend towards a stronger focus on certification of the existing stock that is currently

happening in the US where in 2012 there were more certifications for existing buildings than

for new build for the first time is a clear indicator that targeted investments into existing

buildings with subsequent certification may better future-proof these buildings against

potential risks such as longer than average void periods and value depreciation. Against the

background of the ambitious EU 2020 targets one can only hope that Europe will follow the

US example.”

Ursula Hartenberger, RICS Global Head of Sustainability

Source: http://www.rics.org/site/scripts/news_article.aspx?newsID=2768