About the Building

Schweigaards gate 16 was constructed in 2015 in Oslo, Norway. The building is a 15,500 square meter office building with a small restaurant and a real estate agency on the main floor.

The location of the building is close to Oslo central station and next to Oslo bus terminal. There used to be a Statoil gas station on the site, but in 2012-2013 it was decided that the new Statoil Fuel & Retail headquarter (today Circle K) was to be built on the site. The building project had high environmental ambitions and was certified using the BREEAM-NOR 2012 New Construction scheme, achieving an “Excellent” rating. As there previously had been a gas station on site the site was significantly contaminated and the remediation of the site was a significant environmental challenge. The building is today known as the “Circle K”-building, but houses various companies in addition to Circle K.

Entra ASA is a Norwegian real estate company that owns 89 buildings in Norway. Their business idea is “To develop, let and manage flexible, centrally located, environment friendly buildings” and they both own and operates Schweigaards gate 16. The operation management have systematically worked to optimize the operation of the building and reduce  energy consumption.  Since the building achieved an “Excellent” rating for the construction phase and had a low energy consumption, the goal for the BREEAM In-Use certification was to achieve an “Excellent” rating for Asset performance and for the Building management.  This to verify that the building’s environmental qualities were maintained and improved in-use. During the assessment phase the building management saw that an “Outstanding” rating was achievable for Building management and a new goal was set.

Why did the building undergo BREEAM certification?

The building operation team volunteered to be one of the buildings Entra was certifying using the BREEAM In-Use Scheme in 2018/2019. As a member of Norwegian Green Building Council (NGBC) Entra committed in 2016 the company to follow NGBC’s “10 recommended immediate actions for small and large building owners”. These actions are recommendations for the Norwegian real estate sector in order to contribute to a sustainable society by 2050, and they can initiate them immediately, without waiting for regulations, incentives or market demand. One of the immediate actions is to “Introduce an environmental management system, such as a BREEAM-In-Use review, to the entire portfolio and set up plans for continuous improvement of the buildings”. Entra had a BREEAM In-Use pilot in 2016 and as a result of this decided to certify four to five of the buildings in their portfolio every year using the BREEAM In-Use scheme.

The tenants did not require a BREEAM In-Use certification but has been very positive to the certification. Entra experiences that more and more tenants demand BREEAM certificates for the buildings they lease, especially public tenants.

For Asset performance the asset achieved a maximum score for the categories Transport, Materials and Waste. The other categories score in the interval of 67-77 %. Transport get a high score for its location and organization. The building has 675 occupants but only 23 parking lots (most of them for service vehicles). The building is very facilitated for alternative transportation with the largest bus and train station in Norway within short walking distance, cycle racks and facilities for cyclist like changing rooms with showers, lockers, drying space, towel service and bike wash.

For Building management, the building achieved a high score percentage in all the categories, with a full score in the categories Pollution and Landuse & Ecology. The high score reflects that Entra has maintained the good foundation established when the building was constructed and continue to work with procedures and policies to maintain and reduce the environmental impact. Energy consumption has been of key importance the last couple of years. The building management team has received publicity in Norway for their work on reducing the energy consumption and has worked closely with both the tenants and the supplier of the BMS to optimize the operation and exploit the opportunities in the BMS. In addition to this, one of the biggest actions has been the installation of occupancy sensors to control the ventilation instead of standard operation hours. This lowers the energy consumption but is also better for the indoor air quality for occupants working outside of the standard operation hours. In 2019 the building had a score of 81 % user satisfaction in the tenant survey, which is higher than the average score among property owners in Norway. The asset has a high score for the category Health & Wellbeing for both Part 1 (72,7 %) and Part 2 (94,6 %). The results indicate that reducing the environmental impact of the building has not reduced the tenant’s wellbeing and satisfaction.

Schweigaards gate 16 was in the second group of buildings that Entra certified using the BREEAM In-Use scheme. During the assessment of these buildings Entra has made changes to policies and procedures. The procurement policy is changed, and relevant environmental criteria are included so that the BREEAM In-Use criteria are met.

In addition to constructing new buildings, Entra is also responsible for the operation of all the buildings in their portfolio. The BREEAM In-Use certification has shown Entra that when a building is constructed it is not enough to require a BREEAM NC-rating, but they also have to assess what issues are important to Entra during operation of the building. This has led to changes in Entra’s new construction and refurbishment specification. An example is the requirements for water equipment were the specification requirements now have been increased to best practice.

The certification of this building also led to an internal project to map the buildings in Entra’s portfolio which does not have a leak detection system for refrigerants. As a result of the BREEAM In-Use certification Entra has also started the process of considering implementation of ISO 14001.

Green Strategy

Entra want to be an environmental leader in the real estate sector and therefore they have ambitious environmental targets. BREEAM In-Use is one of the tools that helps Entra to verify the performance, improve the environmental impact and to achieve these targets. The BREEAM In-Use certification process has made Entra more aware of which requirements has to be set to new constructions, refurbishments and replacement in order to achieve the targets set to environmental impact for the building portfolio in-use.

Entra had many policies and procedures when the assessment process begun, but one of the challenges the building management faced was that not all of these fulfilled all the requirements in BREEAM In-Use. The assessment process therefore led to changes in some of the policies, ex. the procurement policy. Procedures has also been formalized as a result of the assessment process.

One of the actions that the BREEAM In-Use process led to was the installation of flow reducing nozzles for the installed showers. The building is quite new but the flow rate for the showers were higher that the requirements in BREEAM In-Use. In collaboration with the plumber company that Entra co-operates with, they found a solution for reducing the flow rate in the showers without replacing the whole installation.

The building operation team have focused on energy consumption and satisfied users in the previous years. The BREEAM In-Use certification process has contributed to also broaden Entra’s awareness about environment impacts caused by other sources. As example, the operation management has set aside money so they during 2020 can maintain and further improve the ecological value of the site.

The benefits of assessing to BREEAM

Entra ASA aims to be an environmental leader within the real estate sector. The BREEAM framework enables us to set targets and measure our achievements when developing new projects, and it also provides us with useful insights to ensure an environmental friendly management of our properties. With a BREEAM certification our customers are assured they get the environmental qualities they demand, and it is also an important enabler for our green financing program. -Sonja Horn, CEO of Entra Asa