CITYCON OYJ Corporate Press Release 4 May 2022
Urban centre Lippulaiva, which was opened at the end of March in Espoonlahti near Helsinki, becomes the world's first centre to be awarded Smart Building’s Gold certificate. Lippulaiva’s construction and design were also recognised by way of another significant sustainability certification, the LEED Gold environmental certificate.
Smart Building Certification has granted a Smart Building Gold certificate for the development of urban centre Lippulaiva. Lippulaiva will become the world's first centre to be awarded Smart Building’s Gold certificate.
In the evaluation report, Lippulaiva received particularly high scores on the building environment and the building performance. Smart Building Certification measures how smart buildings are using a variety of criteria, such as building usage, user behaviour and collaboration, building performance, building environment and safety and security.
“Citycon is paving the way for better understanding and realization of energy and sustainability goals with clear strategy, innovations, applications, and solutions that push the market to think differently. The practices we are learning about from Citycon are not only good for the environment but are good business. The entire world should take note of what they are doing and follow their lead”, says Nicholas White, Head of Operations and Strategy and founder of the Smart Building Certification.
Lippulaiva also awarded LEED Gold environmental certificate
In addition to the Smart Building certificate, Lippulaiva was also awarded a LEED Gold environmental certificate. The LEED certification measures the environmental performance of the project phase, i.e., design and construction. In particular, Lippulaiva's location in the middle of an urban structure in a public transport hub and the utilisation of local renewable energy contributed to achieving the high level of certification. Lippulaiva’s certification was done on the basis of the latest and most stringent criteria.
At Lippulaiva, the aspects of sustainability and sustainable development have been taken into account in a variety of ways. Thanks to its various sustainable energy solutions, the urban centre is carbon neutral in terms of energy consumption. Energy solutions for Lippulaiva include the utilisation of geoenergy and solar energy and smart management of electricity consumption. The heating and cooling needs of Lippulaiva are almost completely met by utilising the plot’s geoenergy and by recycling surplus heat. Lippulaiva’s geoenergy plant is the largest such system in a commercial building in Europe. The centre’s electricity consumption is partially covered through the use of solar panels placed on the roof and wall surfaces.
“Citycon aims to be carbon neutral by 2030. We strive for carbon neutrality, for example, by reducing our own energy consumption and increasing the production of renewable energy. The Lippulaiva project and the lessons learnt from it provide excellent support for reaching this goal”, says Kirsi Simola-Laaksonen, Chief Information Officer at Citycon.
The international LEED certification system (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) assesses spaces, buildings and construction projects for their environmental qualities. The certificates are awarded and monitored by the independent Green Building Business Certification Institute.
Further information:
Kirsi Simola-Laaksonen, Chief Information Officer
Telephone +358 40 669 2665
kirsi.simola-laaksonen@citycon.com
Risto Seppo, Property Development Director
Telephone +358 45 657 8990
Sakari Järvelä, VP, Corporate Finance and Investor Relations
Puhelin 050 387 8180
Citycon is the leading owner, developer and manager of multipurpose urban centres. Our centres in key urban areas combine retail, office premises and housing with well-functioning traffic connections. We are committed to sustainable property maintenance, and the total value of the property portfolio in the Nordic countries managed by Citycon is approximately EUR 4.5 billion. Our centres offer grocery goods, health care services and other services that cater to the daily needs of our customers.
Citycon has investment-grade credit ratings from Moody's (Baa3) and Standard & Poor's (BBB-). Citycon’s shares are listed on NASDAQ Helsinki Ltd.
