CEDEP Green reveals unfolding sustainable revolution

The region's top property players gathered in Warsaw on February 28 for CEDEP Green, a day-long real estate conference to discuss the challenges and opportunities presented by increasing societal pressure for sustainable development.

The day's panels and presentations provided a fascinating array of viewpoints and approaches from developers, financing banks, investors and construction consultants. What quickly became clear is that the move towards environmentally friendly development is taking place at the same time as a radical rethinking of the entire process of property development.

The successful, progressive schemes of the future will be planned only after careful consideration of the local environment – both how to exploit and how to preserve it. They will also place people in a relationship with the outside environment, rather than isolating them in a false alternative world.

Discussions were divided into four panels and interspersed with a pair of inspirational, thought-provoking case studies.

The first panel brought together Cecilia Bagenholm from Buro Happold, Jonathan Cohen, director of commercial construction at Quinlan Private Golub, Matt Fulford, senior consultant at EC Harris, Paul Geeson, director at Arup Poland and AIG/Lincoln’s European construction director David Lawrence. The panel focused on the basics of the environmental audit in connection with the upcoming entry-into-force of the EU’s directive on energy efficiency in buildings. While speakers agreed that voluntary environmental certification systems like BREEAM could play a role in a building's commercial performance, some panelists did underline that in the current market conditions, certification will not become a crucial element to win financiers and tenants for projects just yet.

With the second panel, the discussion shifted from the general to the particular. Panelists Małgorzata Cieślak, Hypo RE Bank’s Associate Director for Europe, Luke Leung, vice president and director of MEP engineering at A. Epstein and Sons International, Andreas Madlung, Eurohypo’s head of team for Poland, Russia, Ukraine and the Baltic States, and Douglas Noble, Orco’s director of Warsaw, took on the subject of reducing the environmental impact of office buildings. Speakers agreed that a full-fledged push from tenants to work in an eco-friendly office environment is still to happen, but nonetheless modern office projects are definitely going to evolve into increasingly greener projects, to live up to both environmental regulations and to the growing awareness of society's green agenda.

The retail panel featured Rabih El Fadel, managing partner at Zero Energy First, Mirosław Pacek, project manager at Inter Ikea Centre Polska, Guy Perry, president and founder of Investment Environments and Stephen Pragnell, director for international relations at Apsys Group. The group discussed the feasibility of open-air mall development in CEE, as these projects enjoy far greater energy efficiency ratings, but the surprising consensus was that classic mall developers could themselves come under pressure to adjust their classic business models as modern shopping patterns are shifting.

The last panel discussion concerned industrial development, generally seen as the sector with the worst green image. But according to panelists Jonathan Fenton-Jones, global procurement and sustainability director at Gazeley, Brendan Fogarty, group environmental manager at Segro and Graham Reece from ProLogis CEE, the situation is changing quickly, to the point that the industrial sector could easily be considered a leader in the green revolution.

The case studies at CEDEP Green brought the day's topics into sharper focus. Epstein’s Leung gave a thought-provoking demonstration about the need to re-examine the way buildings are designed, and how our long-held assumptions must be reconsidered. Of crucial importance is taking into account the details of the local landscape and environment, rather than the practice of churning out generic buildings that ignore special opportunities specific to the certain locations. Gazeley’s Fenton-Jones gave a forceful presentation on his company’s efforts not just to simply reduce the impact of warehousing developments, but also to add value to their surrounding environments. This goes as far, he said, as providing local bird populations with favorable conditions for nesting and breeding.