Sponda Plc Press Release 31 October 2011, 12:00 a.m.
LEED Gold certification granted to Sponda’s Citycenter office building
The property investment company Sponda Plc has obtained the LEED® Gold Environmental Certification for its office building, which was completed in the summer of 2011. The new office property, located in the Citycenter building in the heart of Helsinki, has been leased to Evli Bank Plc in its entirety.
The LEED® Certification is one of the best-known international green building certification systems, aiming at the reduction of environmental impact of construction and use of buildings and the development of healthier working environments.
The six-storey office building, completed in the summer of 2011, was built on the site where the old parking deck of the Citycenter shopping centre used to be. The versatile services of the new shopping centre as well as excellent public transport connections are within easy reach of the users of the office building. Opportunities for new buildings rarely open up in such a central location in the heart of Helsinki.
Energy efficiency and environmentally sound solutions
Energy efficiency and environmentally sound solutions have been a particular point of emphasis in the design of the office building. To a great extent, the lighting of the office premises employs energy efficient LED lights. The use of LED technology on this scale remains fairly rare in Nordic office buildings.
In addition, other measures for improving energy efficiency include separate ventilation control systems for each storey and glass structures with good thermal transmittance coefficients. The building is also connected to district cooling and heating networks.
Upon its inauguration, the office building, with a leasable area of 4,200 m², was included in Sponda’s energy efficiency programme. The programme is an effort by Sponda to seek energy savings in partnership with its customers.
Sponda adheres to high environmental standards in its property development operations. The office building satisfied the LEED Gold criteria clearly, even though the plans for the building project were made as early as in 2006 when the building permit application was submitted. Sponda applies for an international environmental certification for all its new construction projects and for any major refurbishment of existing properties.
- We will now continue the environmentally responsible development of the building in cooperation with Evli. Our customers play a significant role in the reduction of environmental load caused by the use of properties. Together, we pursue the development of environmentally friendly procedures, enabling us to reduce the building’s energy consumption and improve recycling and reuse of waste, say Joni Mikkola, Senior Vice President at Sponda.
Sponda’s partner in the certification process was the building constructor of the property, Skanska Talonrakennus Oy.
LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is an internationally recognised and widely used green building certification, awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). In the certification process, a building project is assessed on the basis of six criteria: Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality and Innovation and Design. The assessment is carried out by an independent third party, the Green Building Certification Institute.
Sponda Plc
For more information, please contact: Joni Mikkola, Senior Vice President, Property Development,
tel. +358 40 518 1217
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 into environments that promote the business success of its clients. The fair value of Sponda’s investment properties is approximately EUR 3.1 billion and the leasable area is around 1.5 million m².