The Solaris, sold by Herpain Urbis SA, advised by CB Richard Ellis to Fidentia Green Buildings sca, proves the new green movement that is currently present in all European real estate markets.
Fidentia Green Buildings, a specialised investment vehicle from Fidentia Real Estate Investments, who is in its turn held by the Compagnie Nationale à Portefeuille (CNP), has purchased the Solaris building, located on chaussée de la Hulpe 120 in Brussels. Herpain Urbis sa and Fidentia Green Buildings have agreed on the share transfer of Hippogone sa, owner of the Solaris building. CB Richard Ellis is very proud to have been able to advice in this transaction. Both the seller and the purchaser are forerunners concerning green transactions. According to Maxime Xantippe, Managing Partner with CB Richard Ellis, “This transaction is a first marker in the progressive conversion of the Belgian real estate offer towards a more sustainable portfolio.” On 16 December 2002, in line with the Kyoto Protocol, the European Parliament and Council have issued a directive concerning the certification of building. This directive must be transposed into the national law of the member states by 2009 the latest. From then onwards, every building that is being developed, let or sold must be foreseen from an energy certificate. This will undoubtedly have an important impact on the real estate market within a couple of months. According to Maxime Xantippe, «buildings with a better energy performance will be more popular. And already today we notice that the demand for sustainable developments is increasing all over Europe. Especially larger companies are generally more conscious of environmental questions and attentive to protect their corporate image ».
This elegant building with high energy performance, designed by the architects Assar, belongs to a new generation of green buildings, with low energy consumption and one that is more environmentally friendly. The Solaris is expected to be delivered in the course of the first semester 2009 and will be one of the first certified buildings in Brussels according to the Belgian standards (that are currently being drafted).
The Solaris building will add 13.706 m² office space, 399 m² multipurpose floor areas (underground) and 728 m² archives (equally underground) to the letting market, accompanied by 194 interior parking spaces, 2 exterior ones and 57 bike placements.
With an asking price of 225 euro/m², Solaris rises the prime rental level of the Decentralised office district up to the level that is applicable in the Louise area, where let’s be honest, the offer of large floor areas has become rather scarce.
CB Richard Ellis has recently held a survey among tenants of offices, logistic and commercial buildings. Concerning their ambitions for the coming 5 years, two thirds of the tenants were willing to move to a more energy efficient infrastructure. Only 10% were more ambitious and were willing to move to a entirely ecologic building. It was shown that particularly larger companies adhere to a green policy. Based on the results of this survey, CB Richard Ellis calculated that from 2013 onwards, there is a need of 400 to 500.000 m² green building per year in Belgium. Besides this, there will exist a demand for 35 to 50.000 m² of extremely ecologic buildings.
CBRE has engaged itself to become “carbon neutral” by 2010. CB Richard Ellis manages over 157 million square metres of buildings space around the world, «this is why, » confirms Maxime Xantippe «we have decide to assist our clients in their searches towards energy savings and solid, sustainable environmental performance. We sincerely wish to encourage our clients do the same for the buildings they occupy or for the ones they have in their portfolio.”
Belgium