2024-04-01
XS ŽAISLAI. CONTEST!
Shopping centre Akropole Alfa in Latvia managed by the market leader in shopping and entertainment centres in the Baltic States, Akropolis Group, has obtained an international BREEAM In-Use building sustainability certificate. This assessment has achieved one of the objectives of the Group’s sustainability strategy: from now on, all five Akropolis centres managed by the Group in Lithuania and Latvia meet international sustainability standards for buildings.
“We are guided by the highest standards available on the market, and it is gratifying that our focus on sustainability, with more environmentally and people-friendly solutions in our managed shopping centres, has been favourably assessed by sustainability experts. Certification of shopping centres is a part of the ESG program of the Group, which focuses on environmental protection, social environment, and corporate governance; therefore, the certification of Akropole Alfa according to the sustainability standards is important to the Group’s overall activities,” comments Dominykas Mertinas, Head of Marketing and Communications of Akropolis Group.
The Latvian shopping and entertainment centre Akropole Alfa, which was acquired by the Group at the end of 2021, has been evaluated according to the BREEAM In-Use sustainability certification for buildings in service and has been given a rating of “Very Good”.
BREEAM certification assesses a building’s sustainability in the following categories: indoor environmental quality (health and well-being), energy efficiency for heating and cooling, water use and management, transport, materials used, waste management, ecology, and pollution.
The shopping centre was audited for BREEAM certification by Vesta Consulting, a building sustainability certification and consulting company.
“We are delighted to have a successful partnership with the curious and ambitious Akropolis Group team, which purposefully pursues sustainability objectives and is shaping best practices in the shopping centre market. Shopping centre Akropole Alfa was one of the larger buildings that our team had to certify under the BREEAM In-Use scheme. Often it can be quite challenging for this type of building to achieve higher ratings due to the large number of different tenants or the age of the building. The energy-efficient management of the engineering systems, the excellent location and social infrastructure, and the water-saving appliances of the building were the main contributors to the certification level of Very Good,” comments Ugnė Didžiariekytė, Project Coordinator and Sustainable Development Consultant at Vesta Consulting.
Shopping centres Akropolis in Vilnius, Klaipėda, and Šiauliai were certified under the BREEAM In-Use assessment system two years ago. The shopping centre in Šiauliai was rated “Very Good”, while Akropolis in Vilnius and Klaipėda as well as the business centre in Vilnius Akropolis were rated “Good”.
Akropole Riga, a shopping centre and office building in Riga, was certified to international sustainability standards in 2019 with a “Very good” rating. It is the first shopping centre in Latvia to achieve BREEAM New Construction certification for new buildings.
“We are well aware that sustainability is not a final result but an ongoing process, that is why we have set ourselves an ambitious goal that all our managed shopping centres will have achieved a “Very Good” rating by 2026. To do this, we have planned investments to improve building infrastructure and solutions. We aim to provide visitors with an even better shopping experience and tenants with even more favourable retail conditions,” says D. Mertinas.
