Lisboa, Portugal - 14th December 2005

International pioneer

Sonae Sierra, Centro Colombo and NorteShopping awarded environmental certification

• Sonae Sierra's certification under ISO Standard 14001:2004 is the first such certificate to be awarded internationally for a company in this sector
• Sonae Sierra has had its Environmental Management System recognised, which it began to develop in 1997
• Certification was awarded by LRQA, a prestigious Lloyd's Group company

Sonae  Sierra  has  just  had  its  Environmental  Management  System (EMS)  certified  in accordance with ISO Standard  14001:2004.    This makes it the first shopping and leisure centre company to be awarded this environmental certificate.

As well as the company's own certification, Sonae Sierra has also had two of its shopping and  leisure  centres  certified,  the  Centro  Colombo  in  Lisbon  and  NorteShopping  in Matosinhos.   In fact, the company's Environmental Management System is already being applied to all of its centres.

Awarded by LRQA - Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance - a prestigious certification company and  the  only  one  in  the  world  accredited  to  operate  in  all  industrial  sectors,  this certification is the culmination of a long and committed process launched by Sonae Sierra to  achieve  the  highest  environmental  management  standards  and  ensure  the  most environmentally friendly practices.

ISO Standard  14001:2004 certification means that Sonae Sierra has achieve yet another target of its corporate responsibility policy.   This provides clear competitive advantages, and of course improves environmental performance and enhances the market value of its shopping and leisure centres.

Certification brings with it added responsibility on the part of all Sonae Sierra employees, because  environmental  performance  has  to  be  constantly  improved,  and  all  of  the requirements of ISO Standard 14001:2004 have to be scrupulously observed, if certification is to be maintained in future audits.

By the end of  2008, ISO Standard  14001:2004 certification will extend to all of Sonae Sierra's current shopping and leisure centres.

For Francisco Ferreira, member of Quercus National Board, "nowadays the constraints imposed by compliance with the Kyoto Protocol mean that efforts to save energy, and cut waste and water consumption are indispensable. Environmental certification is one fundamental step along this path to more sustainable development. With the services sector responsible for a significant share of this consumption in the urban environment, environmental monitoring in major shopping centres is an important component of the effort and transparency vis-à-vis the community."

João Joanaz de Melo, an Environmental Engineering Professor at Universidade Nova de Lisboa, considers that "Sonae Sierra's certification is ground-breaking, and an important sign of social responsibility. It represents a verifiable commitment to the improvement of environmental performance. This certification is not an end in itself, but a tool to effectively improve the environment (e.g. by decreasing water and energy consumption as well as pollutant emissions) and captivate all interested parties (visitors, tenants, employees, administration, suppliers).".

A consistent policy

Naturally, Sonae Sierra's Environmental Policy is based on the philosophy outlined by the Sonae Group, set forth many years ago by its Chairman, Mr Belmiro de Azevedo.   His aim was  to  promote  sustainable  development  and  commit  the  company  to  environmental conservation as a decisive factor in the success of its business, and to consolidate the Sonae Group's place in the community.

Realising that the group's long-term success is intimately linked to a management model that includes environmental management as one of its corporate priorities, for the  21st century Sonae took up the gauntlet of becoming increasingly eco-efficient.   That meant mobilising all employees, and the active involvement of customers and suppliers.

It is against that background that Sonae Sierra, the Centro Colombo and NorteShopping, having  gradually  perfected  their  Environmental  Management  System,  have  now  been awarded certification in accordance with ISO Standard 14001:2004.

It is  the  culmination  of  a  long  journey.     The  first  step  was  taken  in 1997,  when environmental diagnoses began for the shopping centres open at that time.   In this way we identified the main environmental impacts of our business.   This validated Sonae Sierra's Environmental Policy, which was approved in 1998 and revised in 2004.

To live up to the values and guiding principles of our Environmental Policy, Sonae Sierra developed  an  Environmental  Management  System  (EMS)  based  from  the  outset  on  ISO Standard  14001,  with  the  aim  of  making  constant  eco-efficiency  improvements  to  the company,  and  managing  the  main  potentially  negative  impacts  of  our  business  in  an environmentally correct way.

Green Centres

One of the many ways in which Sonae Sierra's environmental efforts can be seen is in the "green centre" concept.   The first such centre was NorteShopping in Matosinhos, which has just received certification for its EMS.

The "green centre" concept means that right from the design phase, shopping and leisure centres  developed  by  Sonae  Sierra  are  fully  capable  of  satisfying  the  company's Environmental  Management  System  requirements.    It  optimises  such  major  aspects  as integration into the surroundings and the choice of building materials, taking into account not only local traditions but also the conditions in the vicinity.    This results in thermal gains, for example.   These and other aspects mean that, as soon as they begin operating, our  centres  are  managed  in  an  environmentally  responsible  way,  in  line  with  the Environmental Management System's environmental standards.

In practice, this strategy enables us to establish the best environmental practices in such fields  as  energy  saving,  water  quality  and  consumption  management,  air-quality monitoring,  selective  waste  separation  and  recycling,  and  others.     This  results  in significant savings when developing and managing shopping centres.

For  example,  while  energy  consumption  can  be  optimised  via  the  intelligent  Building Management  System  (BMS),  water  consumption  is  controlled  using  sophisticated  timer systems for taps, and other types of equipment that enable significant savings.   In addition to reducing the consumption of resources, Sonae Sierra is also committed to guaranteeing the quality of water provided to visitors to its centres.   We do this via systematic analyses by duly accredited laboratories.

With regard to waste, centres managed by Sonae Sierra have the latest equipment, to enable  them  to  separate  the  different  types  of  waste,  which  can  then  be  sent  for recycling.   Regarding liquid effluents, the installed pre-treatment systems mean that its quality can be improved before it is discharged into the municipal sewers.

Indoor air quality is assured by ventilation and air-conditioning systems which are subject to  strict  maintenance  routines  and  regularly  inspected  to  ensure  they  are  running efficiently. All of these systems and elements are regularly assessed by external audits, enabling us to ascertain the efficiency of our procedures.

Sonae Sierra is an international company specialised in shopping centres, with a passion for bringing innovation and emotion to the shopping and leisure centre industry. The company owns or co-owns  38 shopping centres in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece and Brazil, representing a gross lettable area (GLA) of more than 1,500,000 m2. Sonae Sierra is currently developing 14 further projects in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany, Greece and Brazil, with a total GLA greater than 540,000 m2.