Wihlborgs wins environmental prize
At the ”Building Sustainability Sweden” conference, Wihlborgs Fastigheter was today named as one of the winners of the Sweden Green Building Awards 2012. Wihlborgs won its prize with its Polisen 3 building in Helsingborg, in the category “Existing buildings certified under GreenBuilding”.
“Being highlighted in this kind of arena is especially gratifying”, says Anders Jarl, CEO of Wihlborgs Fastigheter AB. “We’ve long focused on energy efficiency in our properties and, of course, we are continuing to do so. That makes becoming the first property company in Sweden to gain the award in this category all the more rewarding”.
In June 2011, the Sweden Green Building Council (SGBC) informed Wihlborgs that the Polisen 3 building in Helsingborg had been approved as a GreenBuilding. At the time, it was the first office property in Helsingborg to be certified under the GreenBuilding scheme. Buildings using 25 percent less energy than before, or than is specified in the newbuild requirements in Boverket’s (the Swedish National Board of Housing, Building and Planning) Building Regulations, are eligible for GreenBuilding certification.
The Polisen 3 building is located on Carl Krooks gata in central Helsingborg, is seven storeys tall, has a basement level and formerly served as Helsingborg Police Station. During conversion, Wihlborgs took the opportunity to renew the property’s technical facilities. The former ventilation system, equipped with heat/cool pumps, was replaced by a supply from the local district heating/cooling system. The building was also equipped with demand-led services and its cooling requirements met by air-borne cooling. In purely concrete terms, it delivers energy savings of approximately 1,123,000 kWh/year for electricity, heating and cooling. This corresponds to annual energy consumption of around 75 single-family homes (15,000 kWh). The property today consumes around 50 percent less energy than prior to conversion.
“In most cases, improving energy efficiency in buildings brings economic and environmental benefits. But the process needs a great deal of knowledge and it is during the operational phase that it is really put to the test”, says Anders Jarl. “If you put up a building with very low energy consumption and you have no idea of how the property is to be managed in the operational phase, the whole concept collapses”.
Wihlborgs Fastigheter AB
Contact information
Anders Jarl, CEO, (+46)-(0)40-690 57 10
Hanna Claesson, Environmental Affairs Director, (+46)-(0)40-690 57 92
Iréne Johansson, Director of Corporate Communication, (+46)-(0)40-690 57 21