We are happy to announce that this autumn, the Prisma supermarkets in Maardu, Roo, and Tiskre received the LEED Retail silver certificate. These are the first supermarkets in the Baltics to receive the green label.
We at Forus have advised and been a partner in the LEED certification of several dozen buildings, including shopping centres. The Prisma supermarkets are the first retail buildings.
The Roo Prisma commercial building is owned by entrepreneur Marko Kull’s company Millerhawk, which deals in real estate development. The buildings of Maardu Prisma and Tiskre Prisma were developed by Capital Mill. Both developers have committed themselves to creating environmentally friendly buildings with as long a life cycle as possible.
Kairi Nõulik, Head of Energy Efficiency at Forus, is pleased to see that in addition to commercial buildings, retail companies are also increasingly interested in LEED certification.
Residual heat for heating
Upon LEED certification, the building is awarded points in different categories. One important indicator is the energy use of a building – heating, cooling, and electricity consumption.
According to Kairi Nõulik, the environmentally friendly use of refrigeration equipment scored the Prisma buildings many crucial points. They use a natural and water-vapour-free coolant, which has a very low ozone-depleting coefficient and thus also a very low impact on global warming. For more efficient energy use and heating of the building, the residual heat from the same cooling system is also recycled.
The most environmentally friendly way to heat a building is to use efficient district heating or a geothermal pump with a lower CO2 footprint instead of fossil fuels. For example, the Maardu Prisma is located in an area with efficient district heating – this brought additional points to the certification of the building. Nõulik considers the lighting system of the Prisma supermarkets one of the most efficient that can be seen in commercial buildings today.
In addition to the measures described above, solar panels were installed on the roof of Tiskre Prisma, and Roo Prisma is special because it uses green energy – all of its electricity comes from renewable energy sources.
‘We at Forus have previously assisted shopping centres in obtaining LEED certifications, but not retail companies. The three Prisma buildings are definitely role models, and I hope that other large retail chains will also focus on green thinking and sustainability,’ Kairi Nõulik said.
Natural for developers
Six of the commercial buildings developed by Capital Mill in Estonia have now received a LEED environmental certificate. Two of these LEED certificates were added within the last week. According to Kaarel Loigu, the CEO of the company, buildings in energy class A that employ sustainable solutions have become a new mandatory level for developers and Capital Mill aims to keep up with certification requirements, thinking green. At the same time, LEED certification is a sign of quality, helping find tenants for the building or to get better financing conditions.
‘Green certifications are becoming increasingly important in the real estate field for developers, financiers, as well as tenants, as increasing attention is paid to the environmental friendliness of buildings as well as energy efficiency. The building must be good to work in and it must also be comfortable for customers,’ added Marko Kull, CEO of Millerhawk OÜ.
At Forus, we help companies and building owners qualify for the certificate. When designing or renovating a building, we are a team member for developers, assessing solutions for LEED compliance and making the whole process simple and easy to understand.
LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is an international certification system designed to assess and recognise the environmental sustainability of buildings. Obtaining the LEED certificate means that the building meets strict standards of energy efficiency and environmental friendliness.
