“At this moment, office buildings play a major role in ESG strategies. If until now they were evaluated in terms of costs and rent, now I believe potential tenants are also looking at their impact on the environment and the community.

The integration of ESG into development strategies and daily operations starts right from the design phase and continues with construction, building operation, throughout the entire life cycle of the building, and even in the way leased spaces are used by tenants.

When we talk about office buildings and sustainability in real estate, I believe it’s important not to think only about green materials and certifications, but rather about a series of measures applied daily in our building operations,” said Mihai Odoviciuc, Property Manager, EVO Properties, during the Sustainability in Business Forum organized by The Diplomat-Bucharest and Sustainability Today.

Key statements:

• “Our buildings are BREEAM Outstanding certified, which is the highest sustainability standard for office buildings. This requires us to implement specific daily measures in our operations. We monitor and optimize the systems in the building through the BMS (Building Management System).”

• “The BMS helps us monitor and optimize electricity consumption. With the help of BMS, we can create programs adapted to the building’s occupancy rate. From the energy efficiency perspective, we conduct an energy audit that helps us understand where we are and what needs to be improved.”

• “We also have state-of-the-art HVAC systems with heat recovery, which help us significantly increase energy efficiency. We have an intelligent façade with a superior technical coefficient compared to conventional ones.”

• “We monitor air quality in tenant spaces daily. We look closely at the supply of fresh air, temperature, and humidity. We pay attention to everything that concerns tenant wellbeing. In July, we inaugurated a gym in one of our buildings, which is private but offers free access exclusively to our tenants.”