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„ibis Vilnius Centre“ – first certificated BREEAM hotel in Baltic states

The hotel ibis Vilnius Centre constructed by the company MERKO was awarded the BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) New Construction final certificate, rating Good. This is the first BREEAM certified hotel in the Baltic States. This certificate assesses the environmental impact of the building, comfort and well-being of employees and visitors, energy efficiency of the building, ecological conservation and biodiversity.

The hotel built in Vilnius, Rinktinės Street, has already received positive feedback from the visitors, employees of institutions located nearby and residents from the surrounding areas enjoy the restaurant which is on the ground floor. The brownfield site in the centre of Vilnius has become a place of attraction of local population.

More than 50 aspects of sustainability have been evaluated

‘This hotel was constructed at the order of Orbis Hotel Group; thus, the quality of the building had to meet high AccorHotels standards for hotels. Prior to starting construction of the hotel, we had to design it, obtain all necessary permits and only them start construction works’, told Saulius Putrimas, the General Manager of Merko statyba UAB.

‘In Lithuania, real property developers, as a rule, choose introduction of BREEAM standard in office buildings or shopping centres, since they see evident values in attracting of tenants, reducing operating costs or increasing the value of the building. ibis Vilnius Centre is one of the rare cases in the Baltic States where the holistic sustainability criteria standard BREEAM was introduced in design and construction of the building. This shows the maturity and pursuit of high quality of design and construction of the real property developers in Lithuania’, pointed out Evaldas Savickis, the incorporator of Vesta Consulting and BREEAM accredited consultant, who has joined the design and construction team of the hotel ibis Vilnius Centre at the very beginning.

By awarding BREEAM New Construction certificate the auditors evaluated more than 50 sustainability aspects. Attention was paid to use of materials which were produced in a responsible manner and are human-friendly, sorting of construction waste, need for energy, 52 per cent lower CO2 pollution. The acoustic comfort, amount of natural light in workplaces, social amenities in the building and near the building, infrastructure for cyclists and fans of electronic means. Operation of such building is particularly cost effective: the need for energy is even 71 per cent lower than usual in buildings of such type, the amount of consumed water is about a half lower.

Well-being of employees and community is also of particular importance

Social aspects, i.e. well-being of employees, the value created for communities, safe and comfortable access to all road users, are also of particular importance to BREEAM assessors.

Thus, in order to achieve this standard, in the course of construction major attention was paid to safe and healthy working environment, personnel training on the procedures of safety works, processes of mitigation of adverse effects on the environment were conducted. All measures ensuring reduction of soil, water and air pollution were implemented, consumption of electricity, fuel and water was monitored and controlled during construction. Construction waste was sorted both in the construction site and in the territory of waste recyclers, quantities of recycled waste were recorded and attempts were made that the quantities of recycled waste were as high as possible so that the waste would not get to landfills. In order to properly protect the trees growing in the construction area and near it, all recommendations of the ecologist have been complied with.

BREEAM New Construction certificate has also been awarded to the business centre “Narbuto 5” constructed by the company MERKO