Pawel Warda and Bartlomiej Szejba, members of the Project & Development Services team at Jones Lang LaSalle, have recently become LEED Accredited Professionals (AP).
LEED is the most recognized sustainability certificate for real estate internationally. They become one of only 16 LEED APs in Poland and the very first commercial property advisors who have obtained this accreditation in Poland.
The key benefits of LEED accreditation for a building include lower operation costs and improved marketability. By adopting a LEED approach in the design, construction and management of buildings, the energy and resource consumption can be reduced. For example, energy use can be reduced by 30-50%, carbon emissions by 35%, water use by 40% and solid waste by 70%. Ultimately reduced energy consumption translates to reduced pollution and lower environmental impact.
Pawel Warda, Head of Project & Development Services at Jones Lang LaSalle comments: "This is important step in the realization of our sustainability strategy and in meeting growing demand from our clients. We are developing international expertise on sustainability in respect of commercial real estate. As LEED Accredited Professionals we are empowered to provide clients with certification and management advice to developers, users and occupiers in securing LEED certificates for new and existing buildings. Apart from the very strong and mature development of this trend in US markets, we also have a unique experience in introducing LEED in non-US markets such as Germany and Italy. Now it is time for Poland to join these."
Bartlomiej Szejba, Senior Project Manager, member of Project & Development Services team at Jones Lang LaSalle adds: "Sustainability has become a key decisionmaking issue for a rapidly growing number of companies when acquiring space. This applies in particular to the demand for new office and retail buildings in good to prime locations. Therefore, existing buildings in these locations will come under pressure and their owners will be well advised as part of their asset management to start thinking about a 'sustainability upgrade', even if any refurbishments may not be possible immediately."
LEED accreditation originally was seen as a certificate for 'new construction' projects developed mainly for owner-occupiers. This has now been extended to several variations in order to suit specific needs, such as (1) shell & core, (2) commercial interiors both in terms of existing and speculative development across office, retail and warehouse/logistic/manufacturing space, (3) existing buildings developed for individual uses (eg, retail, schools, hospitals, etc.), (4) residential sector.
In Central & Eastern Europe there are a limited number of buildings which are Certified LEED projects. Those include the American Embassy in Sofia (Bulgaria) and CSOB Headquarters in Prague (Czech Republic). On the Polish market the are no certified properties, however 10 properties have been already registered for LEED certification, such as Atrium South, several phases of Silesia Business Park (both projects to be developed by Skanska) and American School of Warsaw Phase II (source: U.S. Green Building Council).
USGBC will shortly launch a new certificate LEED for Retail including two new project types: new construction and commercial interiors. This certificate recognizes the unique nature of the retail environment and addresses the different types of spaces retailers need.
Source: JLL
