ESG

Sustainable Real Estate

An important mission for Propstreet is to support our members to become part of a more sustainable real estate market. Today, several sustainability certifications are applied within the industry, making sure that there are common ways of measuring the impact that buildings have on the environment and how the overall environmental footprint can be reduced. We want create awareness about buildings that comply with high sustainability standards and strengthen their value proposition in the marketplace.

One way to bring more sustainability into the real estate industry is to work with environmental certification of buildings. There are several different environmental certifications schemes for buildings, and they have different requirements, but they all include a third-party review of goal fulfillment. There are schemes both for new construction and for existing buildings.

Download Real Estate Sustainability Checklist Below

There are several sustainability certifications that we integrate onto our platform highlighted below:

Environmental Certification of New Construction

Miljöbyggnad - new construction

Miljöbyggnad is a Swedish environmental certification. It has requirements in three areas: energy use, indoor environment and materials. The indicators focus on the buildings itself and the are based on Swedish regulations or standards. How well the building meets Miljöbyggnad´s requirements determines whether it is rated Bronze, Silver or Gold. To certify the building, at lest the Bronze level must be achieved on all indicators.

If the requirement are met the building will be preliminary certified. After three years the performance must be verified in order for the building to be finally certified. Miljöbyggnad is the most common environmental certification system in Sweden.

LEED New construction

Leed is an international certification system developed in the United States. It can be used in all countries, but unlike BREEAM, the requirements are the same no matter which country you build in and LEED always refers to American laws, rules, standards and units of measurement and the manual is only available in English.

LEED contains many different indicators in seven areas and does not only deal with the building. The seven areas are: Indoor environment, Materials and resources, Location and transportation, Sustainable sites, Energy and atmosphere, Water efficiency and Innovation. The indicators are thus not only about the building itself but also about land-use, the construction process, sustainable transport and possibilities to use the building in a sustainable way.The more indicators the building meets the requirements within, the higher the grade obtained. LEED has 4 grade levels; Certified, Silver, Gold Platinum

BREEAM New Construction

BREEAM is an international system where the requirements always relate to the regulations and standards of the country in question, so that a BREEAM building always will be more sustainable than a standard house in the country it is built in. BREEAM contains 50-60 indicators, depending on the building type to be certified sine the selection of indicators are adjusted to always be relevant. To certify, however, you do not have to fulfill them all, but the more indicators the building cores on, the higher the rating it receives. The higher the grade you aim for the more indicators are mandatory. BREEAM has five grade levels: Pass, Good, Very Good, Excellent and Outstanding.

​The indicators are divided into 9 different areas: Management, Health and wellbeing, Energy, Transport, Water, Materials, Waste, Land use and ecology and Pollution. The indicators are thus not only about the building itself but do also address the land, the construction process, the users sustainable transport to the building and possibilities to use the building in a sustainable way.

​Several countries have developed their own versions of the BREEAM scheme (in Sweden BREEAM-SE) where the manual has been translated into Swedish and where the country's current laws, standards and practices are explicitly pointed out. The certification is divided into two steps, where the building is first certified in the design stage, based on how it is intended to be built and then it is certified as Post construction when it is completed and the solutions can be verified.

Svanen

The Nordic Ecolabel is a certification system for housing and preschools in the Nordic market. The certification system has requirements on energy use and several indoor environmental factors, but has a strong focus on non-toxic environments, without chemical products or construction products that are harmful to human health and the environment. In addition, the Nordic Ecolabel demands quality management in the construction process on the handing over of the building to the residents and management in operation.

The Nordic Ecolabel is the reviewing third party reviewer

WELL

WELL Building Standard is a health certification that focuses on building qualities that affect the health and well-being of those who use the building. Well gives points in 10 different categories: air, water, nourishment, light, movement, thermal comfort, sound, materials, mind and community.

WELL is an international certification, and the benefits of Well vary depending on how health factors such as water quality, air quality, smoking ban, etc. are regulated in a certain country. But WELL also includes indicators as sleep policy and altruism that is not regulated.

DGNB

The DGNB Certification System is an international system developed in Germany. Assessment revolves not only around ecological aspects but also includes a holistic examination of the entire life cycle of a building or urban district. Depending on the degree to which a building meets these criteria (of the 40 indicators it can be awarded a Platinum, Gold, Silver or Bronze rating.

Environmental Certification of Existing Buildings

Miljöbyggnad iDrift

Miljöbyggnad iDrift is a Swedish certification scheme for existing buildings that includes both the building and the user phase management. Miljöbyggnad iDrift can be used for all property owners regardless of size, management organization and type of ownership.

In an Environmental Building iDrift certification, five different areas are assessed:​

• Indoor environment - to ensure the comfort of users.

• Health - to control the building's impact on users' health.

• Climate impact based on energy use.

• Resource use and waste

• The condition of construction and installations.

The documents produced for the certification can be used in other contexts, including for supervisory authorities. The system is adapted to Swedish building regulations and Swedish administrative practice.

BREEAM In-use

BREEAM In-Use (BIU) is an international system that can be used to certify existing buildings worldwide. The certification provides an assessment of the building's status at present through an independent assessment, but can later be used as a management system for sustainability in the property, as it includes reviewing each year what changes have taken place and evaluating these. Over time, the increasing sustainability performance of the property or the entire portfolio can be monitored by property owners, investors or tenants.

​The system is broad and contains all nine areas from BREEAM for new construction, but evaluates things that can be changed in an existing building so that it can provide a basis for continuous improvement in the building as well as in management and operation. BIU can be implemented in two parts, Part 1 assesses building performance and Part 2 assesses management. It is possible to certify with one or both parts.

Energy and Climate Labels

Green Building

GreenBuilding is an energy label developed by the EU, for both existing buildings and new construction, and is aimed at property owners who want to work with energy efficiency. The requirement is to improve the energy efficiency by 25% in an existing building or show that a new building uses 25% less energy than the building code requires. In addition, there must be an energy management system for each building.

The first feedback takes place two years after the approved certification application. Thereafter, the building's energy use must be reported annually to maintain the certificate. Feedback must be submitted no later than the last day of April each year.

Sweden Green Building Council is responsible for GreenBuilding in Sweden

NollCO2

NollCO2 is a new Swedish climate label. It is an additional certification that cannot be used independently but can only be applied to buildings that are certified with Miljöbyggnad, BREEAM, LEED or the Nordic Ecolabel.

The certification requires that the CO2 emissions from producing building materials and from construction processes must stay below a certain limit of CO2 per BTA. The limit is project-specific and is set by SGBC. The energy that still arises from building the house and using energy and water during operation is calculated and this must be compensated for. Compensation can be achieved by creating new renewable energy (e.g. installing solar cells), energy efficiency measure in other properties or investing in climate compensation projects.

In order to show compliance with requirements, it is necessary for the project to work with the climate issue from an early stage and through the process. Measures to reduce the climate impact from materials and the construction process need to be highlighted, investigated and calculated.