© a.s.r. 2024
01 June 2021 | 4 min.
The ASR Dutch Mobility Office Fund was founded in December 2016 and has been making strides for a number of years towards a sustainable office portfolio. In the years ahead, the Fund aims to continue to enhance the sustainability of the portfolio in various ways.
After acquiring an existing office portfolio, the Fund had a portfolio including 54% Green Label (a minimum C energy label) and 35% A energy label assets. These shares grew to 100% and 81% respectively in 2020 due to a number of refurbishments and renovation projects. Wherever possible, the Fund aims to implement sustainable measures at appropriate times in the property cycle, such as during routine maintenance work or when there is a change of leaseholders.
In addition to the portfolio’s energy label certification, the Fund aims to improve the sustainability of its portfolio even further by focusing on obtaining BREEAM Certificates for its properties. In 2020, the Fund’s entire office portfolio obtained a BREEAM-NL In-Use certificate, the majority being rated “very good’. Together with the Fund’s CSR policy these efforts have resulted in a GRESB score of 84 and a five-star rating.
One way to increase the energy efficiency of an office is to install solar panels. As of March 2021, 856 solar panels have been installed on five office buildings of the ASR Dutch Mobility Office Fund. This is expected to yield 228,780 kWh of energy annually, comparable to the energy consumption of 82 households. In total, by the end of 2023, we expect around 2,000 solar panels to be installed at eight of the Fund’s offices. As far as possible, the office buildings use the locally generated solar energy themselves.
By setting an example and inspiring leaseholders, the Fund aims for leaseholders to take their responsibility for making a positive impact on sustainability through the practices that they adopt within the offices. An example is the partnership with the leaseholder Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS/Dutch Railways). Together, NS and the Fund updated the offices, including the head office, in Utrecht by making them as sustainable as possible. Various technical measures were implemented, such as sensor-controlled lighting, LED lighting and sustainable climate installations. As a result, the effort of the Fund and NS resulted in more efficient energy labels for the office at Laan van Puntenburg and the Laag Katreine and Katreinetoren offices. These previously had D and C labels respectively, but both now have A labels.
NS, for its part, also reviewed which ‘waste products’ from old trains could be reused in the offices. Walking into the NS offices you will therefore find a coffee corner made of reused train floors, desks made of former train ceiling plates, reused waste bins from decommissioned trains and even a glass wall made of former train doors.
The aim of the ASR Dutch Mobility Office Fund is to establish and maintain an office portfolio with intrinsic long-term value. Sustainability is a key element in delivering stable returns over the long term. In order to achieve a carbon-neutral portfolio by 2050, the Fund is designing a Paris Proof roadmap for the entire portfolio.
For the 2021-2023 period the Fund aims to obtain BREEAM Very Good certification or higher for 93% of the portfolio and an A energy label for 89% of the portfolio. Climate-related risks will also be considered in all future investment decisions. The office portfolio is mapped in a Geographic Information System together with climate risk data such as heat, flooding or drought to see what climate change may entail for our portfolios.
NS headquarters, Utrecht
