Companies worldwide opt for BREEAM In-use to assess and benchmark the sustainability performance of all types of their operational assets. Because it focuses on “living” buildings, rather than projects in the design stage, it provides managers with valuable insights on the asset’s performance.

These insights help further improve both the sustainability features of buildings and approaches to management, while supporting alignment with international sustainability standards and internal ESG goals. Any BREEAM In-use applicant can choose to have their building measured, evaluated, and have the performance reflected against best practices in two parts, according to the BREEAM methodology: Asset Performance (AP) and Management Performance (MP). Even though both categories are open for all applicants, 90% of companies decide to only go with the first one.

From safe environment to pollution control 

We’re among the daring 10% of developers and asset managers choosing complexity and having both buildings evaluated in both tiers.

Asset Performance naturally benchmarks the asset’s performance, but also outlines areas for improvement, whereas Management Performance benchmarks the buildings management processes, and outlines areas of best practice with the potential to reach optimal performance. The categories assessed in both schemes are similar, covering everything from health and wellbeing to energy, transport, water, resources, resilience, pollution, management, land use, and ecology.

Concrete examples of what appears on the scoring sheet and in the follow-up report are:

• lower operational energy consumption and carbon emissions over the lifetime of the asset
• public transport availability for building users to limit car usage
• sustainable water use in the building
• responsible use of resources and waste management
• the ability to face climate-related physical risks
• awareness of the current and potential ecological value on-site and the potential impact of operations on this value.
• control of both airborne and waterborne pollution

High energy efficiency, outstanding alarm systems, or healthy acoustics, Agora Budapest has it all 

In Agora Budapest, a total of nearly 70,000 sq m of space was assessed.  It’s also important to mention the official results: AP 79.8 % and MP 75.5% for Agora Tower and AP 80.2 % and MP 74.7 % for Agora Hub, let’s illustrate these exceptional numbers with real-life examples of what features of the buildings led the assessors to grant such high ratings.

Where did Agora Budapest meet or even exceed the standards?

In the Energy category, Agora Budapest exceeded benchmarks especially because cooling and ventilation equipment are highly effective, the lightning structure is based on LED lighting and building’s partitions have low U values.

When looking at water management, apart from low-flow appliances, the assessors scored Agora Budapest almost 90%, appreciating especially its leak detection and prevention systems which are not commonly used. As far as resilience is concerned, Agora was granted the highest scores for alarm systems, a challenging category to fulfil due to its very strict requirements, including log systems and procedures.

Moving on to the Management Performance, both buildings showed premium acoustics which is a feature which doesn’t get measured very often, despite the extent to which users value spaces with well-designed and executed acoustics. Health and wellbeing was amongst the top performing categories for both buildings which shows that our long-term strategy of developing spaces with people and their needs in mind is paying off. It’s also an element that is highly appreciated by the tenants. To ensure continuity in this area, a Biodiversity Management Plan, Climate Risk Analysis and Opportunities and Social Threats Analysis were developed during the assessment in cooperation with Sweco that will guide further sustainability-related activities.

“It is great to see Agora Budapest scoring so highly because BREEAM In-use is about buildings already in use, which means the majority of the technological solutions are already implemented so you can’t really replace whole systems, like for example functional ventilation, to achieve better scores. The scores show that we made the right choices at the very beginning,” says Norbert Nagy, Facility Manager of HB Reavis Hungary.

3.. 2.. 1.. Go! 

Achieving the certification is a great honor for the team. However, it’s the starting line, not the destination. BREEAM In-use supports our route to net zero and contributes to our ESG goals. Within the report, we’ve found practical tips for further improvements: ones that will be implemented step by step as we pursue our bigger mission: mitigating the environmental impact of everything we do.