October 28, 2019. O1 Properties took part in the Green Office, Green City international conference, which was held on October 23 at the VDNKh exhibition site in Moscow.

Green office, Green City is an annual conference that brings together representatives of business, city government and non-profit organizations to discuss ways of improving the environmental performance of commercial real estate and creating a comfortable and people-friendly urban context.

O1 Properties, owner of the largest class-A office property portfolio in Moscow, uses green technologies to manage its business centres and is certifying all of its centres to BREEAM standards (BREEAM is the leading international standard for sustainable buildings). The company works to raise awareness in Russia of the benefits of “green offices” for the environment and for the well-being and performance of the people who work in such buildings.

Elena Belevtseva, Director of Marketing and Communications, at O1 Properties said: “Discussion of green technologies in office real estate is usually limited to a description of the engineering solutions, which can reduce a building’s consumption of basic resources. But the focus should always be on people. Environmentally efficient engineering creates a healthy atmosphere and reduce stress levels of the tenant’s employees by providing natural light, good air quality, green areas and natural patterns, and acoustic and thermal comfort. ”

Seven operating business centres of O1 Properties are already BREEAM certified. The Company  presented the case of the Krugozor business centre, which was certified “Good” in September 2019, at the Green Office, Green City conference. The case exemplifies successful certification of an office centre created by conversion of industrial buildings dating from the Soviet period. Some environmentally efficient technologies were installed at the time of conversion, while others  were added this year. The recent modifications include energy-efficient lighting, water-efficient plumbing, separate waste collection and a number of other management technologies and practices.

The programme of O1 Properties for improving the environmental performance of its office real estate has received a number of professional awards. The Company was among winners of “Leaders of Climate Development 2019”, “Green Awards: High Performance Building 2019” and “Green Office 2019”.