15.08.2021

Piraeus Port Plaza: three Gold, one Platinum!

The start of a New Year is a good time to reflect on the past, plan ahead and celebrate new achievements. Part of our New Year’s resolutions was to address the need for healthier office spaces, not only for more sustainable ones. Human health and wellness are fundamental tenets of LEED, and over 70% of the credits in the rating system tie-back directly to human health and wellness strategies. This is exactly why we need to talk about the effectiveness of LEED in regard to health and wellness.
LEED certification can offer the security of high indoor air quality, which makes it especially attractive under the current circumstances, where air quality is a major issue.

When the pandemic started in March and the first guidelines regarding improved indoor air quality were announced by the government, some of our clients asked us to provide them with exact information on how the buildings, they are currently using can help them to achieve a safer environment for their employees. Having gathered the required information to show compliance with the minimum requirements for LEED certification, we were able to provide them with detailed information about filters, heat exchangers, air exchange rates and design air speed for every area of the building at a fingertip, which in return helped them to improve their space.

The fact that you cannot manage what you cannot measure, and you can’t improve what you don’t measure, gives us another reason to continue certifying our projects. Within the last three months we managed to certify a total of three of your projects with outstanding results.
The first, which achieved LEED certification during the current pandemic, is the Piraeus Port Plaza 3 – Building A & C a reconstruction project, that has managed to achieve the highest level of certification, LEED Platinum. The project consists of building part A, which houses offices on the upper floors and building part C, which offers structured parking space. The outstanding achievement of LEED Platinum showcases the sustainability potential of redevelopment projects.
The second project which received LEED certification in December 2020 is the Piraeus Port Plaza 2 – Building E, which has been certified to the Gold Level.
The third, Piraeus Port Plaza 2 – Building Z, achieved LEED Gold certification a month ago and is the first project in Greece to achieve certification in 2021. Both buildings of the Piraeus Port Plaza 2 campus host call centers.
The fourth building is Piraeus Port Plaza 3 – Building B which last week was awarded with LEED Certification to the Gold Level.

The research is clear:
The places where we spend our time have a huge impact on our overall health and well-being and it is our obligation to make them safe and welcoming for the people who nowadays return to their workplaces.