Developer Codic Group wins Belgium's first BREEAM certification for office scheme

International real estate developer CODIC Group has won a BREEAM certification, the first one to be awarded in Belgium and the first in Europe to be certified under the new BREEAM Europe for Offices scheme.

The assessment was awarded after two office buildings, Access and Bridge, which are part of CODIC’s new Atlantis development on the outskirts of Brussels, achieved a “Very Good” BREEAM rating. The assessment was conducted by building consultancy AECOM.

Guy Degryse, assistant director at CODIC, said “We looked at a great deal of environmental certification systems, and decided that BREEAM was our best option. BREEAM is increasingly popular among European developers, as it builds on a solid experience in the UK of over 20 years.”

Some of the key features of the building which secured the Very Good rating include:

§ The design ensures that all lighting, heating and ventilation systems allow zoning arrangements to be modified. This will give buildings occupants a greater degree of control.

§ The reduction of energy consumption by: providing presence and daylight controls on all lighting; greatly reducing air permeability to prevent heat loss and draughts; and installing an innovative lift technology with regenerative drives, where energy generated by descending lifts is fed into the buildings' electrical loads such as lighting.

§ Strictly limiting the volume of waste produced. It is expected that almost 100% of non-hazardous waste will be diverted from landfill – for example, through on- and off-site reuse of aggregates.

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