STOCKHOLM, Sweden--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Regulatory News: Skanska (STO:SKAB) is incorporating the international environmental certification system LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) in its Nordic building construction operations. Consequently, Skanska becomes the first construction company in the Nordic region to offer customers environmental certification in accordance with LEED for construction projects and for commercial development projects. All Skanska’s own commercial development projects and new premises for its own operations will also be certified in accordance with LEED. LEED is one of the world’s leading systems for environmental certification of buildings. Resource utilization, the building’s location, design and indoor climate as well as energy and waste minimization are a few of the criteria on which LEED classification is based. Certification is carried out and verified by an independent third party through the United States Green Building Council (USGBC). Starting today, about 100 Nordic Skanska employees will be trained to lead the LEED design and certification process and to serve as advisors to Skanska’s customers. The training will be carried out with the aid of some of Skanska’s approximately 350 LEED Accredited Professionals in the US operations. Accreditation of the training will be performed through the Green Building Certification Institute, an independent organization charged with administrating and monitoring this process. The LEED system, combined with LEED training, provides Skanska with a tool for total evaluation of the building’s environmental impact based on internationally recognized and objective methods. Skanska has completed approximately 70 LEED certified projects in the US and the first project in the Czech Republic. Currently, the first LEED projects in Finland and Sweden are being developed. Seven Skanska projects have achieved an EU GreenBuilding rating, which means at least 25-percent lower energy use than what is prescribed in national standards. In addition to energy, LEED covers wider environmental impact. LEED certification and the EU GreenBuilding rating can be applied in parallel. “The demand for environmentally rated and energy-efficient buildings is increasing. This trend will be accentuated further when the market rebounds. Then we will be ready,” says Johan Karlström, President and CEO of Skanska. “In the US, many large cities and states already require LEED certification for new buildings. Today, about 40 percent of the US population lives in these areas and we have carried out several LEED certified projects there. “We have a solid foundation on which to build further. The entire Group has been environmentally certified in accordance with ISO 14001 since 2002. And we have demonstrated that we can meet high environmental standards, in the Nordic region as well as in the US and Europe. Through adopting the same rating system, we will be positioned to share knowledge and raise our performance worldwide.”
