The number of existing building certifications is rapidly growing, within 12 buildings 250,000 m2 of office space was certified in 2014. Seven of these were BREEAM In-Use certifications, which now account for almost 40% of the total green office stock. The popularity of BREEAM In-Use certification is driven by the flexibility of the rating system, which is perceived as both easier and faster to achieve than other rating systems and is awarded in three different categories (Asset/Building Management/Occupier).

Green certified buildings can be found outside the capital as well. The first green office building in Hungary outside of Budapest is National Instruments’ Science Park in Debrecen, which achieved LEED Gold certification. Two years after Henkel’s factory in Körösladány received certification under the DGNB system, a new green industrial building was also completed - Procter & Gamble’s manufacturing building at Gyöngyös, which achieved LEED Silver certification.

“Green buildings are increasingly attractive to international tenants. Last year, 30.6% of new leases occurred in green buildings. As essentially every new building is certified, the highest ratio (71%) was among pre-leases.” – said Norbert Szircsák.

The outlook for this year is also positive, major investment funds including CA Immo and ImmoFinanz are now in the process of certifying their portfolios of existing buildings, which will add at least another 200,000 m2 of certified existing buildings to the green office stock in 2015.

„As competition grows we expect that existing office building owners will continue to improve and make their buildings more sustainable in order to maintain the attractiveness of their assets.” – added Norbert Szircsák.
   

Colliers