Green operation and management boosts overall market competitivenes
December 12th, 2013, Shanghai — CBRE, the world's leading commercial real estate services and investment firm, announced today that it has helped The Center in Shanghai to obtain the LEED EBOM (LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance) gold certification awarded by U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). This is another achievement for CBRE in helping the existing buildings in China to acquire the green certification. The Center is a superior grade-A office building owned by China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co.,Ltd (CPIC).
As an active supporter and practitioner of environmental concepts, CBRE, has always been devoted to forging existing buildings successfully into green and energy-saving ones which in turns improve the project’s market competitiveness as well as promote sustainable development for the future.
LEED® is a widely acknowledged third party certification that focuses on the design, construction, operation and maintainence of high-performance green buildings. Driven by the increasing competition in the office market and the accelerated development in green buildings, more and more industry experts, developers, owners and tenants are beginning to realize the economic and environmental protection benefits brought about by LEED certification.
CBRE believes green operation and management can boost the market competitiveness of projects from four aspects, namly improved energy efficiency, saving of energy, water and maintenance costs; providing a green, healthy and comfortable working environment for tenants; attracting better tenants to enhance project’s brand images; as well as optimized rental returns to maintain the value of property assets.
As one of the key benefits from green building management, a building with years of history can also be transformed into green and energy-saving building through specially-formulated green operations and effective management system, obtaining valuable LEED green certification.
The Center, located in Xuhui District where is one of the economic arteries of Shanghai, is a commercial office building housing many well-known multinational tenants. Established in 2004, it has a total building area of 89,498 square meters, a floor area of 2,220 square meters and daily office workers of up to 5,500. In March 2011, the superior grade-A office building project was successfully acquired by CPIC from an offshore fund with RMB 4.258 billion. In the following two years, CPIC assigned a professional management team to be responsible for renting and operations, investing nealy RMB 10 million in reconstructing the equipment and facilities to improve the quality of the building. After adopting the solution of CBRE, the 10-year-old office building has effectively undergone the certification process of LEED EBOM in less than a year. With this certification, the project has gained many advancements in both the economic and the environment arenas:
- 67% of the property cleaning supplies are green;
- As compared to other similar buildings, the integral energy consumption has been reduced by 25%;(according to the comparative data of Energy Star’s energy efficiency)
- 44% of office garbage has been recycled and dealt with;
- the total water consumption has been reduced by 48%;
- green house gases have been reduced by 6,690 tons. (according to the comparative data of Energy Star’s energy efficiency)
Mr. Andy To, Executive Director, Asset Services, CBRE China expressed, "Sustainability services represented by LEED certification is a critical constituent of CBRE asset services solution. CBRE provides the professional property management knowledge and experiences based on operation practices to pursue the LEED certification. Other than assisting customers to augment the market competitiveness of their projects, this is also our core competitive advantage in this area. CBRE gives a new green life to existing buildings, creating the perfect balance between fulfilling commercial goals and living up to the corporate social responsibilities of enterprises.”
Mr. Cheng Qinglin, Executive Director of CPIC who is in charge of this project said, “We have seen many iconic office buildings being owned and invested by insurance funds on a long term basis in international center cities as New York, London and Tokyo. Real estate projects held by insurance funds typically focus more on long-term benefits, environmental efficiencies and sustainable development. However, there has been remarkable progress in the investment experience and management concepts of real estate projects in recent years, despite the relatively shorter period of time for domestic insurance institutions to invest in real estate projects. In the area of direct investments in real estate, CPIC has gained huge success in focusing their investment strategies on grade-A office buildings. In two years since the acquisition, the occupancy rate has increased from the initial 80% to the current 98%, hitting a historical record high in rental levels and the potential property appreciation exceeded 30%. The LEED Gold Certification obtained by this project will surely be beneficial in boosting a long-term competitiveness and rentals, achieving excellent economic effectiveness while gaining social and environmental efficiencies simultaneously.”
Ms. Nellie Cheng, Director of Market Development from USGBC, has commended the efforts made by CBRE in the certification process of LEED green buildings and highly applauded CBRE for promoting environmental and social sustainable development.
Possessing the relevant qualifications, CBRE can provide professional and comprehensive LEED certification consulting services. It started providing such services in China since 2009. Up till now, there have been 25 professional personnel who have obtained the professional certificate of LEEDO+M (Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance category) awarded by USGBC, 3 of them coming from CBRE’s asset services department with their sophisticated property operations and management experience. In the certification process, CBRE can help projects to acquire the LEED EBOM certification in the shortest time possible with a success rate as high as 99% by formulating a thorough time schedule.
As of November 2013, 20 projects in China have obtained the LEED EBOM certification including Galaxy Center in Shenzhen and The Center in Shanghai, under the assistance of CBRE. Galaxy Center has gained the gold level certification in 2012. According to the survey statistics of CBRE, the total amount of electricity used has been reduced by 7.55% with savings in electricity reaching 463,661 RMB after the certification.
About CBRE Group, Inc.
CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBG), a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company headquartered in Los Angeles, is the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm (in terms of 2014 revenue). The Company has more than 70,000 employees (excluding affiliates), and serves real estate owners, investors and occupiers through more than 400 offices (excluding affiliates) worldwide. CBRE offers strategic advice and execution for property sales and leasing; corporate services; property, facilities and project management; mortgage banking; appraisal and valuation; development services; investment management; and research and consulting. Please visit our website at www.cbre.com.
