BOSTON, MA— Real estate investment management firm TA Realty announced the successful certification of nine industrial assets under BREEAM’s In-Use certification standard. This achievement further demonstrates TA’s growing commitment to improve the sustainable performance of these traditionally complex industrial assets, and the firm currently plans to continue completing BREEAM certifications across its core industrial portfolio.
The developments that have achieved BREEAM certification include nine assets which were constructed between 2016 and 2019, comprising nearly 6.7 million square feet of real estate across six states including Georgia, California, Florida, Illinois, Texas, and Washington. Notably, almost half of the assets received a perfect score in the Pollution category, while the overall highest rated categories across the portfolio of certified developments were Health & Wellbeing, Resources, and Resilience.
“While most of the real estate industry has begun to seriously consider pathways to improved ESG performance, the industrial sector has historically lagged in the deployment of sustainable solutions, largely due to the limitations of a triple net approach,” noted Anne Peck, Vice President and Head of ESG+R at TA Realty. “For most players in the sector, solar power has been one of the only feasible options for improving sustainable performance without sacrificing financial success; with the guidance of BREEAM and its various resources, we’ve been able to achieve sustainable performance upgrades while maintaining our fiduciary duty to stakeholders and retaining a strong return on investment.”
BREEAM, the leading science-based sustainability assessment developed by BRE Group (‘BRE’), was chosen by TA Realty based largely on the standard’s unique compatibility as the only certification program that offers independent pathways for certifying the physical performance and operational management of industrial assets. This provides the industrial sector with a means of evaluating the performance of assets. Beyond this alignment, TA partnered with BRE based on the extensive resources offered by the assessment platform throughout the certification process. Specifically, the firm was eager to tap into the on-site support and education BRE provides to the property management teams at each development — valuable context for the in-depth certification process and ongoing improvements that these teams will be required to maintain. By taking advantage of the top-tier client support offered by BRE and the expert insights from Longevity Partners (‘Longevity’) — the third-party assessor on this project — TA’s property managers have gained a better understanding of asset-specific opportunities for improved ESG performance.
One significant benefit of using BREEAM is the platform’s holistic approach to asset performance, which looks closely at factors that extend beyond environmental impact, such as resilience and health and wellbeing of occupants/tenants.
“We’re thrilled to work with TA Realty to demonstrate the possibilities for continued sustainable improvement within the industrial market,” said Breana Wheeler, US Director of Operations at BRE. “At a time where real estate firms can feel heavily pressured to deploy ESG initiatives quickly to be seen as taking action, TA has taken a more deliberate and intentional approach to ensure thoughtful, significant improvement at each of the assets included in this project. We look forward to seeing how the measured benefits of this meaningful sustainable strategy influences other leaders in the sector as we continue to work with TA on further certification.”
The assets’ certification process was led by an independent third-party assessor at Longevity, who played a critical role in supporting TA’s achievement of sustainability goals at each of the nine assets and completing the third-party verification of each building’s sustainable quality and ESG performance.
“Longevity Partners is honored to be the certification partner of choice for TA Realty’s portfolio-wide certification across the US,” said Sarah Welton, Business Growth Director at Longevity Partners. “We understand the value of certification in creating a global, comparable and data-driven benchmark for real estate sustainability and we are uniquely positioned to help our clients execute their ESG strategy, future proof their assets and ultimately, safeguard their business’ long-term returns.”
