The Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) and Swedish Skanska Financial Services have signed a new loan agreement for financing Skanska's "green building" projects in Poland.
The loan totalling EUR 100 million is earmarked for the construction of four resource-efficient multi-tenant office buildings with the total area of 82,700 square metres in three Polish cities: two in Warsaw, one in Wroclaw and one in Poznan.
As part of its strategy to develop the segment of energy-efficient buildings, Skanska aims for meeting the stringent requirements of the international LEED and EU Green Building standards, which would make the new office buildings first ever in Poland to receive LEED Platinum certificates. The new office buildings are expected to have an energy demand 25-29% below the maximum level allowed by the national standards.
"The building sector accounts for more than 40% of the end energy used in the EU. Therefore the involvement in promoting modern, sustainable building technology fully complies with NIB's mandate to support better environmental and energy efficiency in the Baltic Sea region. We are happy that it matches with Skanska's strategy to offer resource-efficient solutions for its clients," says Henrik Normann, NIB President and CEO.
Besides the use of energy, the new buildings will meet the terms of the LEED level performance in other features, such as the site location, use of materials, quality of indoor environment and innovation and design. The projects started 2010 and are expected to be completed by 2014. The total project costs for the buildings will amount to EUR 212 million.
LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is an internationally accepted benchmark that uses a lifecycle perspective to evaluate how a building handles the most important environmental parameters. The EU Green Building programme, initiated by the European Commission, offers partnership to businesses that keep their energy consumption at least 25% lower than the national standard.
Skanska AB, a Swedish listed company, is one of the world's largest project development and construction groups. The group has 52,000 employees in selected home markets in Europe, the US and Latin America.
NIB is a multilateral financial institution owned by eight member countries: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden. The Bank finances private and public projects in and outside the member countries. NIB has the highest possible credit rating, AAA/Aaa, with the leading rating agencies Standard & Poor's and Moody's.
