On April 22 this year, the 50th anniversary of World Earth Day, the Polish Green Building Association PLGBC published the fifth edition of its report on green building certification. The organization maintains a database of certified buildings in the international certification systems present in Poland: BREEAM, DGNB, HQE, LEED and WELL. The report is an analysis of annual changes in the market for sustainable, certified buildings in our country.
This year's PLGBC Report Green Building Certification in Numbers summarizes the period between March 2019 and March this year. Invariably, since the beginning of PLGBC's statistics of certified buildings, Poland has remained the certification leader in Central and Eastern Europe. A comparison of the number of certified buildings in the BREEAM, DGNB, HQE, LEED and WELL systems across fourteen countries in this part of Europe shows that Poland is home to 51% of the region's certified buildings.
The most illustrative parameter that shows the development of sustainable construction is the floor area of certified buildings, which has already exceeded 17 million m². There has been an increase of more than 3 million m² of certified space over the year; this compares with an increase of 2 million m² in 2019.
Leading the list, as in previous years, is BREEAM certification, with a share of nearly 77percent (a 3percent year-on-year increase). LEED certifies 20% of buildings, DGNB 1.7%, WELL 1% and HQE 0.6%. The number of certified facilities in Poland is 845 buildings. Also worth noting is the annual 30%increase in the number of buildings (197 certified facilities) that have joined the list.
The invariable industry leader is the office real estate sector, with a nearly 62percent share (down 3 percent from last year). The most notable observation of the period is the very large increase in the number of certified warehouse facilities. Branża logistyczno‑przemysłowa coraz częściej decyduje się na certyfikację nowych inwestycji i wzmocniła swój udział do prawie 17% (z 13,3% w roku ubiegłym). By the same token, the share of retail space fell by 1.5%. The residential sector, in turn, increased its share to over 5%, hotels to almost 2%, while the share of schools remained virtually unchanged.
As of the end of 2019, Poland had 11.2 million square meters of modern office space. Its certifiable portion already accounts for 76% of the total! This is a leaping increase compared to last year. Even the biggest skeptics of certification cannot disagree with the fact that certification in the commercial real estate sector is already a standard.
The retail sector is recording a 38percent share of certified space in relation to total modern retail space. This is a continuation of last year's trend.
Now that, according to the report, as much as 87% (sic!) of Warsaw's modern office space is made up of certified buildings, it may be that the market will once again scrutinize those who have not managed to fit in green standards in time. W raporcie, na tle innych, mocno wyróżnia się liczba certyfikacji w sektorze budynkówprzemysłowo‑magazynowych, które zajmują też najważniejsze miejsce w portfolio certyfikacji prowadzonych przez moją firmę. The reported increase is as much as 64% more such buildings compared to a pretty good previous year, with a 48%increase. Thus, for the first time, certified industrial and warehousebuildings will stand in second place in terms of numbers, right behind office buildings, slightly distancing this year's (equally strong and still on the podium) retail buildings. - concludes Rafal Schurma, President of the Polish Green Building Association PLGBC, owner of visio architects and consultants.
The PLGBC report is available for free download here.
elaborated. ed.
based on a press release
