Sustainability Services

About Us

Sustainability is the cornerstone of our approach and we actively work with clients to develop sustainable and socially responsible shopping centres and mixed-use projects that positively impact on society and the environment.
Sonae Sierra’s Sustainability Services cover the whole lifecycle of a project, offering a comprehensive range of solutions to Real Estate developers, operators, and investors, targeting compliance and risk mitigation, operational excellence and reputation management.
We provide a wide range of high quality services, from construction and building certification, to the efficient management of utilities consumption in retail assets and best in class safety, health and environmental management systems.

Why are we the partner of choice?

  • Experience - Sonae Sierra’s sustainability team has a combined experience of over 20 years in the development of sustainable solutions for more than 50 shopping centres spread around the globe.
  • The quality of our Funds sustainable business practices and portfolio was acknowledged again in 2018 through our high ranking in this year’s GRESB edition, where we ranked: 3rd with Sierra Fund, 13th with Sierra Portugal Fund and 17th with Iberia Coop in the non-listed Retail companies in Europe category.
  • Know-How - Comprehensive sustainable solutions have been implemented along the entire value chain of the retail real estate business, ensuring best practices are applied from the very beginning and allowing higher cost effective solutions.

Sustainability Services in Development

Our approach is to guarantee the minimum safety & health risks and a reduced environmental impact during the construction works, and most important, during the future operational phase of the building.

These are our services:

  • Safety, Health and Environmental due diligences
  • Environmental impact study
  • Sustainability strategy for the asset
  • Socioeconomic impact study
  • Sustainable equipment and material procurement
  • Waste management plan
  • Sustainable building design guidelines
  • Green building certification (BREEAM, LEED)
  • Management system implementation for construction
  • ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001 Certifications for construction
  • Shopping centre pre-opening support
  • Assess safety, health and environmental legal compliance

Sustainability Services in Property Management

Our approach is to operate real estate assets in the most sustainable way, by continuously monitoring energy, water, waste and safety & health performance and identifying measures to increase operational efficiency and minimize risks.

These are our services:

  • Safety, Health and Environment gap analysis
  • Assess Safety, Health and Environmental legal compliance
  • Asset operational risk assessment
  • Energy and water efficiency plan
  • Environmental action plan
  • Safety and Health action plan
  • Safety, Health and Environmental management system
  • Energy fine-tuning services
  • Green building certification (BREEAM IN-USE)
  • ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001 Certifications
  • Tenant energy benchmarking
  • Carbon footprint optimisation
  • Stakeholders’ engagement consultation and strategy

Sustainability Services in Investment Management

Our approach is to support assets or funds’ investment decisions ensuring sustainability features contribute to increase asset resilience and value.

These are our services:

  • Safety, Health and Environmental Due Diligences
  • Shopping centre benchmarking (energy and water)
  • Sustainability strategy for the asset/portfolio
  • Develop Fund/Asset reports according to INREV guidelines
  • Participating in the GRESB assessment.

Key credentials

  • Our environmental management practices were first established in 1999 and we have been improving them ever since. In 2018, our company was able to avoid costs of €25 million, due to the implementation of energy, water and waste efficiency measures.
  • In the development of new retail real estate assets (including office towers), 26 Sonae Sierra construction sites have achieved ISO 14001 certification, 10 have achieved OHSAS 18001 certification and 2 have achieved green building certifications (DGNB and BREEAM).
  • 6 retail real estate assets currently certified with BREEAM in-use certification.
  • 52 ISO 14001 certifications have been achieved at operational shopping centres since 2005, and OHSAS 18001 certifications have been achieved at 48 operational shopping centres since 2008.
  • Since 2003, our water consumption has decreased by 21%, our electricity consumption has decreased by 49% (since 2002) and our waste recycling rate (since 2002) has improved 248% (47 percent points) from 19% to 66%.

Elsa Monteiro Head of Sustainability


Nuno Rafael Alves Sustainability Business Development


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