Grønn Byggalianse is a member association for companies from the entire construction and real estate sector. The aim of EGD Property AS is to develop good, sustainable communities, and sustainability and future standards act as our inner compass when constructing and renovating buildings.

Our vision
To move the Norwegian construction and property sector towards a future where green, sustainable solutions are the natural choice.

The Norwegian Green Building Council is a not-for-profit membership organisation for businesses from across the whole construction and property sector. With over 370 members throughout the value chain, we represent the construction and property sector’s current and future managers and practitioners, who are working to bring about real change.

Sustainability goals

As a major property developer, particularly in the Bergen region, EGD Property AS is helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through its activities.

The aim of EGD Property AS is to develop good, sustainable communities, and sustainability and future standards act as our inner compass when constructing and renovating buildings.

11. SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES

As a property developer, we have a strong responsibility to create public spaces and communities that are pleasant and where people want to live. We would like all of our projects to give something back to their surroundings and to help make Bergen an even better place to live. Our environment affects our emotional state. Research shows that you feel better and have a higher quality of life if you consider your surroundings to be beautiful Most of the buildings we will use in the future have already been built, so how we look after existing buildings is important in terms of creating sustainable cities and communities.

At EGD Property we want to look after Bergen’s historic buildings and restore them to their former glory. Both the BA building and Håkonsgaten 24 are examples of this: we have added colour to make them more visually appealing, restored old decorative features and installed cast iron balconies and roof spires.

For cities and communities to be sustainable, they must be alive. As such, it is important to ensure activity at the street level of buildings. The ground floors of EGD Property’s buildings shall be transparent and open, and we aim to find tenants who can add something to the local community.

We have environmental management systems in place for all of our construction projects, and we will certify all of our new properties under BREEAM-NOR in order to ensure their sustainability.

We are more than just a property developer – we also develop the area. At Nøstet, over 10,000 m2 of land along the seafront will be transformed. Here we are working alongside various other players. The current buildings are high and long, preventing views and access to the sea. We want to make the area accessible to everyone, with clear lines of sight from the old wooden buildings to the sea, a seafront promenade, new public spaces, a canal and a marine nursery school.

13. CLIMATE ACTION

The construction industry is responsible for around 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions. We know that greenhouse gas emissions lead to global warming, which in turn creates more extreme weather. The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s latest report states that we can still limit the scope of the most serious changes to our climate, but only if we reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Our industry is playing an important role in helping the world to meet the goals set by the Paris Agreement.

EGD Property has low direct greenhouse gas emissions. However, we have both the ability and opportunity to greatly influence the greenhouse gas emissions of our suppliers, partners and customers. We are conscious of this responsibility when constructing buildings, developing areas and choosing tenants.

We construct buildings, including offices, homes and warehouses, to high standards, in order to reduce their energy consumption. The standard practice of the property industry has been to demolish older buildings and to replace them with new ones. Calculations show that concrete is responsible for a massive 5% of global CO2 emissions, and by renovating old buildings rather than demolishing them, you can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In our new project at Baneveien 16, we are retaining the existing concrete structure when renovating the building, and we believe this approach is the way of the future. We also carry out carbon accounting for all of our new buildings.

Measuring the greenhouse gas emissions of construction processes is an important part of assessing the current situation, and it allows you to take good decisions that further reduce emissions in future projects.

8. Decent work and economic growth

At any given time, our projects involve between 200 and 300 people. We want to help ensure that people have decent working conditions, so we choose our business partners carefully. We require our partners to have good health and safety systems, good procedures for combatting money-laundering and corruption, and good working environments.

The Transparency Act, which comes into force on 1 July 2022, requires us to evaluate our whole value chain for risks of breaches of human rights and rules on decent working conditions. We have a duty to perform due diligence assessments and regularly report on the findings of these assessments. We already do quite a lot in this area, but we are also looking at whether we can find even better ways of performing our risk assessments.

15. Life on land

In our projects, we strive to add more natural environments than we take away. This includes green roofs with solar panels, and where appropriate we also install rooftop farms. By doing that, we hope to provide a habitat for insects and to maintain local biodiversity.

The construction industry is the world’s biggest consumer of raw materials, and in Norway it is responsible for around 40% of raw materials used. Using fewer materials can lead to a more sustainable use of natural resources and natural environments Making the construction industry a more circular economy, where things are reused and repaired, and materials are recycled, is one way to reduce our consumption of natural resources and raw materials.

Wherever possible, we want to use recycled and upcycled materials, and we aim to encourage and support businesses that are exploring these opportunities.

17. Partnership for the goals

We are a streamlined organisation, which means we are dependent on having excellent partners. One of the guiding principles for how we do business is the importance of having good and very trusting relationships. It is by cooperating that we achieve results, and that is equally true in relation to sustainability.

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