Sponda Plc Press Release 3 June 2013 at 9:30 a.m.
Sponda and Nordea sign a Green Lease to promote environmental efficiency
Property investment company Sponda Plc and Nordea Bank’s branch at Kaivokatu 12 in Helsinki are partnering to achieve energy savings and reduce the environmental load caused by the use of the property. By adopting the new Green Lease model, the companies have agreed on joint objectives and a compensation model to encourage the use of environmentally friendly solutions and the reduction of energy consumption at the premises used by Nordea’s branch.
Both parties have made a commitment to reduce energy and water consumption at the property. A further goal is to reduce the amount of waste generated at the property and to increase the recovery rate of waste to 90 per cent.
The well-being of the environment also has economic value
Economic incentives linked to energy consumption, among other things, are used as motivation for the environmentally responsible use of the property. Savings and excesses in heating costs are divided annually between the tenant and the landlord. The same compensation model may later be applied also to cooling costs.
The eco-efficiency requirements written into the lease also provide guidelines for changes to and investments in the premises. Sponda primarily makes use of energy-saving solutions when renewing technical systems and equipment at the property. Solutions that are flexible, adaptable and have a long technical life cycle will be prioritised in choices of materials and spatial planning. All investments will be agreed on jointly with the tenant, taking the mutual profitability of the investments into consideration.
Sponda will regularly provide information to Nordea on the consumption trends at the property. Separate heating meters will be installed in the premises used by the bank to distinguish Nordea’s heating consumption from that of the rest of the building. Monthly updates on the property’s heating, cooling, electricity and water consumption will be published on Sponda’s extranet service for tenants. The extranet also features content designed to assist tenants in reducing the energy consumption of their premises.
Even a century-old building can be energy-efficient
It is not always possible to implement modern building technology in a 100-year-old property that is under a preservation order by the National Board of Antiquities. This poses certain challenges to the implementation of the Green Lease model, but by making the right choices and adopting energy-efficient ways of working it is possible to reduce energy consumption, even in an old building.
The property is included in Sponda's Energy Efficiency Programme, which is a Sponda initiative aimed at achieving energy savings in cooperation with customers. As the property is part of this environmental programme, energy-efficient operating practices are already second nature to the people working in it. This supports the achievement of Sponda’s and Nordea’s Green Lease objectives and makes the implementation of the agreement easier.
- Nordea is the first customer we have signed a Green Lease with. I am pleased that we have this opportunity to expand our environmental partnership by engaging in even closer cooperation to reduce the environmental load of the property. Adopting the Green Lease model is part of the implementation of environmental responsibility, which is one of our strategic focus areas, says Senior Vice President Ossi Hynynen from Sponda.
- Signing a Green Lease agreement with Sponda promotes the efficiency of operations and use of resources, and therefore helps us achieve our goals. At the basis of the lease agreement is the close and open co-operation between the lessor and the tenant, the property user. I firmly believe that our co-operation and the investments in the property will benefit the property owner, the tenant as well as our environment, says Mauri Tolonen of Nordea Group Premises Finland.
Sponda Plc
Additional information: Ossi Hynynen, Senior Vice President, Investment Properties, Sponda Plc, tel. +358 400 701 030
Sponda Plc is a property investment company that specialises in commercial properties in the largest cities in Finland and Russia. Sponda’s business concept is to own, lease and develop office, retail and logistics properties in environments that promote the business success of its clients. The fair value of Sponda’s investment properties is approximately EUR 3.3 billion and the leasable area is around 1.5 million m².