Aroundtown SA
Aroundtown SA is a Germany based REIT that holds mostly office and hotel assets and focus on value-add objects. Their operating regions are mostly top tier locations within Germany and the Netherlands. They acquire mostly existing buildings and renovate these. Some of these renovated buildings will be sold off and others will be exploited by Aroundtown SA.
Decarbonization strategy of Aroundtown
Aroundtown has committed to a set of targets to significantly reduce the whole building CO2 intensity of their portfolio over time.
Unlike many other real estate companies, Aroundtown specifies what type of measures are included in their long term decarbonization strategy, and specfies deeper retrofit measures as an integral part of that strategy.
Efficiency upgrade practice by Aroundtown
Aroundtown SA has considered, implemented, and disclosed on exactly the type of measures that will be needed for most real estate companies to achieve required future energy and CO2 intensities for achieving the Paris climate goals.
In one of their case studies reported in 2023, Aroundtown SA indicated that they have refurbished an apartment building by upgrading the facades, roofs and windows, an investment of € 2.3 million, improving the EPC label from E to A and reducing CO2 emissions by 65%.
For another building located in Zeist, the Netherlands, Aroundtown has significantly reduced the energy intensity by installing a hybrid heat pump, putting solar PV panels on the roof and renovating the air handling unit. Aroundtown has invested € 1.5 million of CAPEX into the building, after which the EPC rating will be upgraded from EPC label D to A++ and CO2 emissions of the building are reduced by 54%.
Why it matters
As the real estate industry has a long way to go to get to Net Zero, we encourage companies to consider taking deeper retrofit measures such as improvements of façades and roof insulation, and to give insight into the technical and financial feasibility of these types of measures for the portfolio. It’s these types of disclosures that show to investors that a company is putting full effort into managing their climate risks.
Sources
For more details, please refer to Aroundtown, Energy & Climate Change
Questions about this best practices?
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