President and CEO
RL Commercial REIT Inc.
It’s a type of office building that was designed to allow its tenants to reduce their energy consumption by 25% and water consumption by 65%. The structure utilizes sustainable and energy efficient building materials, the place not only enables tenants to keep electricity and water bills down but also boosts the productivity, well-being, and health of everyone working in the building.
Cebu City just welcomed this type of building with the recent EDGE (Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies) certification of Robinsons Cybergate Galleria Cebu.
Robinsons Cybergate Galleria Cebu marks the third EDGE-certified project for its developer, Robinsons Land Corporation (RLC), and the first of its kind in the island province, showcasing Robinsons Offices’ dedication to increasing the count of EDGE-certified office buildings all over the country.
“We need to develop more green workplaces that improve energy efficiency and boost productivity. We are committed to reduce our carbon footprint and this is very much aligned with the sustainability goals of our tenant partners as well. As we build offices of the future, we need to ensure that future generations will get to experience and enjoy these too,” said RLC Senior Vice President and General Manager for Offices and RCR President, Jericho Go.
Go also believes that having its office buildings EDGE-certified promotes nation building, adding that sustainable structures play a huge role in achieving broader sustainability goals at the city, provincial, and national levels.
EDGE is a green building certification system focused on making buildings more resource-efficient. Developed by World Bank Group’s International Finance Corp., this certification system was created to reduce and mitigate the environmental impact of buildings in three areas: direct energy consumption, water consumption, and the energy footprint of its construction materials.
For Robinsons Cybergate Galleria Cebu, the certification body Philippine Green Building Initiative considered the following unique features of the building: reduced window to wall ratio, reflective paint/tiles for roof, Low-E coated glass (double glazed glass panels), air conditioning units that employ Variable Refrigerant Flow technology, LED lighting, automatic meter reading system, low flow faucets, low volume flush water closets, water efficient urinals, and rainwater harvesting system among others.
With the EDGE certification already awarded to RLC’s Cyberscape Gamma in Pasig (the country’s very first certified REIT building), Cyberscape Beta in Pasig, and recently, Cybergate Galleria Cebu and Cyberscape Omega, Robinsons Offices is proud to announce that it targets to add a few more EDGE-certified buildings within the year.
All these office buildings are designed to save energy by at least 20 percent in water use, energy use, and embodied energy in materials compared to a local base case.
“This is an important milestone for Robinsons Offices. With Robinsons Cybergate Galleria Cebu along with the other office buildings that have been certified or awaiting a certification award, it is clear that we have the tools and innovations to become greener and more efficient. We now have the capability to accelerate the transition to a lower-carbon future and a goal of achieving net zero carbon by 2050,” said Go.
