Nuveen Real Estate celebrates a year of sustainability successes, including gaining landmark LEED Hospitality score

• Awarded LEED Gold certification for its Porto Asprela student housing portfolio, gaining the highest score ever achieved in Europe in the LEED V4 Hospitality category for PBSA
• Achieved 16 ‘Green Stars’ in the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) report

Nuveen Real Estate, one of the largest real estate investment firms globally, has published its latest Sustainability Report highlighting its key achievements and successes over the course of the last year as it continues its tomorrow’s world investment approach.

Abigail Dean, Head of Sustainability for Nuveen Real Estate, comments: “Over the past year we have continued to work towards our sustainability objectives, with our tomorrow’s world approach sitting at the heart of what we do. Even with the significant disruption of the global pandemic, we believe that structural change, caused by changing demographics, sustainability, and technology present significant opportunities to create value and that the key to capitalising on these is to have a deep understanding of these disruptors and their impacts.

It is also important that we recognise that the physical impacts of climate change will affect real estate values and that it is critical to develop an understanding of how, where and when these physical impacts will become financially material to an individual investment’s financial performance.”

Creating a more sustainable portfolio
As part of its approach, Nuveen Real Estate continues to invest in innovation to achieve better-performing buildings. The firm’s success was demonstrated when it achieved the highest score in Europe in the LEED V4 Hospitality category for PBSA, as well as a LEED Gold certification, for its Porto Asprela student housing portfolio in Portugal. The certification and score reflect the work undertaken across the portfolio to reduce negative environmental impacts arising from its usage. The firm also created an award-winning energy usage saving of around 30% at its Swindon Designer Outlet centre by implementing artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

Dean adds: “To achieve our ambitious sustainability goals, we must invest in the latest technology and be innovative in our approach. This is a core part of how we do business, and we are particularly proud of our role in supporting and promoting the innovations that champion health and wellbeing in buildings and use smart building technology to achieve energy efficiency.”

The firm was awarded 16 ‘Green Stars’ in the latest Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) report, which compares data on the ESG performance of over 100,000 individual assets globally, amounting to more than $5.3 trillion in gross value. Eight of Nuveen Real Estate’s mandates were awarded the top five-star rating, meaning they outperform 80% of all participating property mandates. The GRESB results recognised the company’s strategies for demonstrating global leadership in embedding sustainability throughout the property investment lifecycle.

• Earning an A+ rating in the latest UN Principles for Responsible Investment sustainability benchmark results
• Being awarded its 13th consecutive EPA ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Sustained Excellence Award
• Being named a ‘Goal Achiever’ by the U.S. Department of Energy