Collaboration between CBRE and Bouwinvest safeguards sustainability ambitions in management strategy

For many years, Bouwinvest has been committed to sustainability and is now taking this approach one step further by working with CBRE to make the management of its entire office and hotel portfolio more sustainable. The ultimate ambition is to achieve a BREEAM In-Use rating of Very Good or higher in the categories Asset and Management for all its buildings by 2021.

Bouwinvest is strongly committed to sustainable real estate with the long-term goal of achieving Paris-proof real estate portfolios by 2045. “We are going beyond the legal requirements in the field of sustainability,” says Bas Jochims, Director of Dutch Office & Hotel Investments at Bouwinvest. “For us, this is a way to ensure that our buildings remain attractive to tenants in the long term. And by doing so to secure long-term financial returns for our clients, who are mostly Dutch pension funds. In addition, this approach offers us opportunities to invest with social impact, something our clients are calling for with ever greater urgency.”

Practical approach to sustainable management

With a view to fulfilling these enhanced sustainability ambitions with regard to Bouwinvest’s office and hotel portfolio, sustainability will be fully incorporated into the management strategy. CBRE has drawn up a concrete action plan, one which fully integrates sustainability into the multi-year plans for each building and assesses the sustainability performance of contracting parties. These action plans are based on legal obligations, CO2 reduction and achieving better energy labels and BREEAM-NL In-Use ratings. By intelligently combining these measures with management and maintenance, investments can be made at the right time while guaranteeing continuity in terms of implementation.

Bas Jochims of Bouwinvest: “Experience and previous collaboration have shown that CBRE is well equipped to take a structured approach to both formulating and implementing measures geared towards improvement. In doing so, they support us in achieving our ambitious goals and this makes them the right partner for this assignment.”

Tim Habraken, Associate Director of Sustainability at CBRE: “We attach great importance to sustainability and do everything in our power to maintain the highest possible standard of knowledge and expertise in this area. At CBRE, sustainability features in every piece of advice we issue to every client. It’s not an one-off measurement, but a central theme that runs through all our services. Therefore, we are very enthusiastic about entering into this collaboration with Bouwinvest.”

The next step in partnership

Bouwinvest and CBRE Property Management have been working partnership for several years already. CBRE manages a significant proportion of Bouwinvest’s office portfolio and its entire hotel portfolio – a total of 17 buildings that cover over 240,000 sq. m. In addition to a joint approach aimed at further optimisation of individual assets, sustainability has become an increasingly important factor in property management. For example, Environmental, Sustainability and Governance data are exchanged for the annual GRESB benchmark, sustainable purchasing conditions are applied to planned maintenance and green leases are taking the place of standard rental agreements.

“We are proud of our many years of cooperation with the team at Bouwinvest,” says Remy van Horssen, Director Property Management at CBRE. “Having stepped up the involvement of our colleagues from the Sustainability Team, we are able to take the portfolio to the next level in sustainability and other areas.”