Barely two years since its initial public offering (IPO), Filinvest REIT Corp. (FILRT) has been making waves in sustainable office development.
The publicly listed real estate investment trust (REIT) arm of Filinvest Land recently bagged two major awards — the Office Development of the Year- Philippines Award and the REIT Initiative of the Year – Philippines Award — at the recently held Real Estate Asia Awards 2022.
“The prestigious awards program pays tribute to real estate businesses that has surpassed challenges and produced honorable innovations that stood out in the property market” in the region, according to the organizers. It recognized FILRT’s efforts in the adoption, development, and leasing of sustainable office spaces that focus on green design, energy efficiency, and renewable energy, among others.
FILRT’s property portfolio consists of 17 Grade A office buildings totaling over 300,000 square meters of gross leasable area (GLA) valued by an independent appraisal company at ₱48.5 billion. Sixteen of the 17 assets or 94% of FILRT’s portfolio by valuation are located in the award-winning Filinvest City, an integrated and master-planned township in the Alabang commercial business district (CBD) in southern Metro Manila. The remaining asset lies on the gateway of Cebu IT Park, a fast-growing office expansion destination in Cebu.
Filinvest City is the first CBD in the Philippines to earn a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) v4 Gold Certified for Neighborhood Development recognition. LEED is one of the most widely used international green building rating systems in the world that is much sought-after by locators. Two FILRT buildings (Axis Tower One and Vector Three) are LEED Gold certified, designed to be more energy efficient by at least 10% compared to conventional buildings.
Filinvest City also integrates the use of renewable energy, with six FILRT buildings sourcing 100% from renewables. The majority of the buildings are attached to the largest district cooling system (DCS) plant in the Philippines, substantially reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 40% and saving about 11,500 tons of carbon dioxide per year. FILRT also has environment-friendly internal transport system through Eco-Loop, the first electric-powered 24/7 public transport system in the country.
Within Filinvest City is Northgate Cyberzone IT Park which is one of the first Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA)-registered IT parks in the Philippines. Northgate Cyberzone features superior accessibility to major CBDs and neighboring regions. The portfolio also has access to various supporting amenities and infrastructure such as truck-mounted mobile generators as emergency secondary backup power to the in-building generators.
“This twin recognition from a reputable body such as Real Estate Asia puts a spotlight on FILRT’s efforts, not only on a national scale, but throughout the Asia-Pacific region. We have trodden the road less traveled by championing sustainable office spaces in the country. Today, we have these awards to show for our efforts, and claim to the world that sustainable offices are indeed the future,” said FILRT president and CEO Maricel Brion-Lirio, who accepted the award on FILRT’s behalf.
The winning entries were deliberated by real estate industry experts, namely, Hong Beng Tay, Partner, Head of Real Estate Sector, KPMG Advisory LLP; James Allan, Regional Director and Country Head, JLL Indonesia; Stuart Porter, Private Equity, Financial Services & Real Assets Asia Real Estate Tax Leader, Partner, PwC Tax Japan; and Michael Velten, Southeast Asia Investment Management and Real Estate Sector Leader, Deloitte.
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