Sustainability Almost every stakeholder in real estate experiences the need to act on sustainability. Practical in all markets companies increasingly ask for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) towards each other. Because of this CSR is becoming more common in business. Mr. Willem Lageweg, director of MVO Netherlands, calls this a ‘chain reaction'. Some important trends that illustrate this process:
Cost control has become the most important motif to start with CSR. This development will continue with increasing speed, due to the recession we now experience;
Clients ask about the ambitions on sustainability of their suppliers, investors only want to invest when the asset is more sustainable than the existing (vacant?) real estate. Real Estate Broker agency DTZ writes in their report “The real estate supply ages: Chances for the office market” in 2010 the following:
For sustainable retrofitting and the alternative reuse of existing buildings HDP Real Estate has a strong vision. Initiatives for the alternative reuse of existing buildings must come from the market and the authorities will have to be flexible. Only thus can provide valuable buildings a new lease of life. The increase of the level of sustainability in existing buildings for HDP Real Estate stand for an increase in comfort for the occupants, lower costs and higher value. This involves not only energy use, but also to the daily use and future value of the building.