This unit incorporates a series of technologies which seek to improve efficiency in energy and in water consumption. The building also has a thermal insulation system, structures to recover energy and heat and photovoltaic panels designed to produce clean energy.
All these systems, conceived since the beginning of the project, contributed for this unit – which offers 220 apartments and several common areas (such as gym and laundry) – having been awarded 62 points in terms of sustainability, which is «the highest score in the “Hospitality” category ever awarded in Europe», it can be read in the release from Milestone, student residence operator created by Value One and Nuveen Real Estate.
«Aside from the technical innovations on this building, we made sure early on in the design that we were dealing sustainably with resources—by doing things like setting up a sustainable waste management system on the building», added Miguel Garcia, CEO of Garcia Garcia, the company in charge of building this unit. On this point, Milestone’s CEO Gary Clarke, guaranteed that «our sustainability efforts begin during a project’s planning phase and continue once the property has been put into operation».
Nuveen Real Estate’s director of sustainability, Richard Hamilton-Gray assumed that «sustainability is at the heart of Nuveen Real Estate’s investment approach, as we continue to integrate ESG into our portfolio to help create value for our clients in tomorrow’s world. Achieving such a landmark LEED certification result for our PBSA portfolio in Portugal is a testament to the front-and-centre role we place on sustainability across our broad housing capability. We are proud to have received this accolade and will continue to work to ensure a high standard of sustainability across our real estate portfolio».
For Sebastian Gruber, General Manager at Value One Development International, «this gold-level LEED certification is an acknowledgement of the qualities that we aim for. In our projects, we assume responsibility for the community and the environment—and we’re happy that independent evaluation has confirmed this», he concluded.
The Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design certification – better known by its acronym LEED – is awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council and is aimed at assessing and certifying eco-friendly construction, through a universal system of parameters which evaluates buildings’ environmental and energetic performance.
