Green construction takes flight in Romania

The office sector is still the most important driver of the new market, but other sectors are quickly catching up.

Reducing the impact of the construction industry on the environment is currently an important target of the European Union (EU). In waiting for the so-called “20-20-20” objectives to become effective, more and more developers on the local real estate market are making important steps in terms of green building.

An example of sustainable real estate is The Office in Cluj-Napoca (see photo), a project that is currently under development by the NEPI investment fund and the local entrepreneur Ovidiu Sandor. Recently, the second building of the project received the BREEAM Excellent rating with a score of 80 points, this being the best result achieved by a building outside Bucharest and the second best nationwide.

Located in the central area of Cluj-Napoca, The Office is designed to have three office buildings, with a total leasable area of approximately 60,000 square meters. Until now, the first two buildings were delivered, bringing a stock of 40,700 square meters to the market. The third and last phase of the project is currently under construction and is scheduled to be delivered in the summer of 2017.

According to BuildGreen, the first local consulting company in the field, the office sector keeps being the strongest driver of sustainable building in Romania, but the industrial and retail segments are quickly catching up, while such initiatives are also coming up in the residential sector. “Another major market trend is represented by the expansion of the «green wave» outside the capital city of Romania. While Bucharest remains the leading city in terms of number of certified properties, the year brought some outstanding achievements and market premieres in secondary cities such as Cluj-Napoca, Iasi, Brasov and Timisoara”, company's officials say.

Adriana Lefter – Imoland Expert Consulting