SUSTAINABILITY
GSW REDEFINES “SUSTAINABILITY” German housing specialist GSW Immobilien has stated in its first sustainability report that “sustainability” encompasses more than just green issues. “Sustainability is significantly more than this. For a company, acting sustainably means that its decisions and actions must follow the principles of responsibility and respect towards the interests of all stakeholders and the permanent survival of the company for future generations,” said Thomas Zinnöcker, CEO of GSW Immobilien, which has a portfolio of 58,500 housing units. Zinnöcker added that listed housing
companies faced particular challenges when it came to sustainability. “Unlike other players, our equity is traded
every business day. This means that our business model is subject to particularly high requirements in terms of transparency and future viability.”
Thomas Zinnöcker, CEO of GSW Immobilien
“FOUR R’S” SET OUT BUSINESS CASE FOR GREEN BUILDING The Green Building Council is to present its business case for green building at the Ecobuild event to be staged in London in March. “Green building has to
stack up economically before business people will consider the social and environmental benefits,” said Paul King, chair of the Green Building Council’s Europe Regional Network. “But companies
understand the four R’s: the risk of not anticipating EU policy and regulation; the reputational benefits of delivering better- quality, sustainable buildings; the reward of winning new business, and the fact that green building really is the right thing to do.”
EURO PROPERTY
British Embassy inWarsaw: designed to
conserve energy
GO ECO-FRIENDLY VIA REFURBS Refurbishing existing buildings to new standards, turning them into low- carbon emission assets, has been identified as one of the best bets for the property sector in the year ahead, according to Emerging Trends in Real Estate Europe 2013, published jointly by the Urban Land Institute and PwC. Sustainability was identified by 96% of respondents as a top business issue for industry in 2013, with 38% saying it would gain in importance again in the year. Lenders increasingly see green buildings as a way of reducing
refinancing risk. Survey respondents said sustainability credentials “help maximise finance, mitigate obsolescence and underpin security of income”. Sustainable properties were commanding higher rents and values and interviewees, who included senior staff from real estate investment trusts, residential developers, banks, and investors, said environmental concerns were now intrinsic to their plans. For investors in particular, the green agenda is now tied to refinancing risks, meaning sustainability continues to rise up their agenda.
IN ASSOCIATION WITH
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