Kampusareena BREEAM rating Excellent - BRE Group
Kampusareena university building awarded BREEAM rating of Excellent
Overview
Kampusareena is located in Tampere (Finland) in the heart of the campus of Tampere University. With its nine floors and a sloping green roof, the building is a visual reference for the whole surrounding neighbourhood. Acknowledged for its sustainability standards, it earned a BREEAM rating of Excellent (72.2%).
About
Tampere University is the second largest research university in Finland. It’s known for providing high-quality education and offering excellent opportunities to form a global network of both professional and academic colleagues.
Background
Kampusareena’s BREEAM journey started already in the planning and construction phase. In 2016, the project obtained BREEAM New Construction certificate with rating “Very Good” which is also the level that the building owner University Properties of Finland (SYK) requires as minimum for all their new building and major renovation projects.
Solutions
In 2019, SYK set as target that within the next five years 75% of building area in their existing buildings must be certified with BREEAM. Kampusareena was selected to SYK’s first group of BREEAM In-Use certifications which consisted of 10 buildings from three different university campuses in Tampere. After consistent assessment and development work, Kampusareena achieved its official certificate of BREEAM In-Use in March 2020.
In its first BREEAM In-Use certification round, Kampusareena scored overall well in all BREEAM In-Use categories. In Part 1 Asset Performance, the building performed particularly strongly in Waste (100.00 %), Transportation (94.44 %), Materials (84.62 %) and Water (72.50 %). In Part 2 Management Performance, Kampusareena scored the highest in categories Pollution (91.67 %), Energy (75.00 %) and Water (69.23 %).
These results arise from multiple actions and strategies that SYK addresses to their buildings. For example, in Kampusareena, water consumption is sub-metered extensively per tenanted area. Water fixtures in the building are widely water-efficient (e.g. waterless urinals, dual-flush toilets), and the asset has an automated water leak detection system installed. Energy consumption is metered and monitored vastly. Kampusareena’s green roof plays also an important part in other fields of sustainability than just supporting biodiversity: the roof helps in handling surface water run-off, and absorption of particulates and heat.
Satisfaction of the end-users is also one of the main focus points of SYK for managing their buildings. For example, Kampusareena is equipped with functional and spacious facilities for cyclists as well as with diverse resting areas. Communication with tenant representatives and building users are also a top priority: regular meetings and events are being organised to further enhance the wellbeing of the asset users. Monthly reports of energy and water as well as carbon footprint are delivered to tenants. Moreover, SYK has defined a company-wide proactive process for collecting, recording and handling occupants’ concerns and feedback about internal environment conditions.
Benefits
Networking opportunities for tenants
Encounters in Kampusareena generate ideas, research and development projects, innovations, jobs and other success opportunities. The total building area is 15 100 brm² of which about 60 % is occupied by the university and the rest by about 100 companies that use the spaces for example for recruiting students.
Green initiatives
The green roof has the biggest biodiversity of all Finnish green roofs. In addition to the diverse flora, the roof hosts insect hotels. One of the other interesting key environmental features of the building are the solar panels on the façade. Kampusareena has 560 PV panels that also function as solar shades as they are installed on the walls on top of the windows on the southern and western sides.
Kampusareena’s contributions for sustainability do not cover just environmental and business opportunities. The building has succeeded in supporting the local community, too. The building – both indoors and outside – is a centre for activities and recreation. In summer, the green roof serves as social meeting point and in wintertime, students have used this inclined roof for example for downhill activities.
Impact of BREEAM certifications
BREEAM certifications have assisted SYK in the continuous development towards more sustainable buildings and management strategies. For example, BREEAM certifications ignited SYK to carry out life cycle assessment (LCA) calculations. These calculations turned out to be extremely valuable when SYK needed to determine wider carbon footprint for the whole company and their leasable spaces.
SYK has long been advanced in adopting policies and strategies of sustainability work in their building management organization. To take a step further, BREEAM certification processes have encouraged SYK to compile and document these strategies in a systematic manner. For instance, company-wide practises related to building adaptation, hazard management and water fixtures refurbishment have been endorsed. Without BREEAM requirements for documentation, there would be a risk that operational models were not documented thoroughly.
The impact of BREEAM goes beyond just the asset owner SYK and their buildings. As Kampusareena hosts a wide variety of actors, the sustainable development guided by BREEAM spreads knowledge and inspires new ideas among the users and local community.