Sponda Plc                                                Press release                       15 May 2018 at 09:00

Sponda's property becomes the first office building in Finland to be awarded BREEAM® In-Use Excellent certification

The property investment company Sponda Plc's property in Helsinki's Ruoholahti district has become the first office building in Finland to achieve an Excellent rating in BREEAM In-Use environmental certification. Completed in 2008, the Ruoholahden Tähti office property is centrally located in the busy business hub of Ruoholahti.

The rating of Ruoholahden Tähti's BREEAM® In-Use environmental certificate was upgraded to Excellent in the property's follow-up audit in April. While the Excellent rating has previously been achieved by shopping centres in Finland, no office properties have accomplished this feat before. Ruoholahden Tähti was previously awarded a BREEAM® In-Use Very Good environmental certificate in 2015.

"For a long time now, we have been working at Ruoholahden Tähti to minimise the property's environmental impacts in co-operation with our customers as well as the maintenance organisation. We have placed particular emphasis on the energy efficiency of the premises as well as lighting, the reduction of water consumption and safety. The property's modern technical solutions and favourable location in close proximity to public transport and services also helped create the foundation for this fine achievement," says Petteri Säntti, Regional Manager at Sponda.

BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) In-Use is an international green building certification system aimed at reducing the environmental impact of the use of buildings as well as the development of healthier working environments. The certification process takes into account the building's indoor environmental quality and energy efficiency, among other things. At the Ruoholahden Tähti office property, the office building itself was the object of the certification process. Green Building Partners Oy was responsible for the property's certification process and auditing.

Sponda currently has 16 properties with international environmental certificates. Sponda seeks LEED® or BREEAM® environmental certification for all new property development projects and significant renovation projects. Sponda also seeks In-Use certification for its properties.

Sponda Plc


More information:                Petteri Säntti, Regional Manager, tel. +358 40 764 3927
                                            Hannamari Koivula, Sustainability Manager, tel. +358 40 581 9921

Sponda Plc is a property investment company specialising in commercial properties in Finland's largest cities. Sponda's business concept is to own, lease and develop retail and office properties and shopping centres into environments that promote the business success of its clients. The fair value of Sponda's investment properties is approximately EUR 3.9 billion, with a total leasable area of around 1.2 million m2.