Sweden Green Building Council established
Av Peter Nilsson
Publicerad Tuesday 30 June, 2009.
Twelve companies and organisations are behind the formation of SGBC, whose aim is to influence decision-makers, spread knowledge and develop tools in order to attain concrete results that improve the buildings’ environmental effect. Today, running buildings constitutes 30-40 percent of worldwide energy consumption, which means there is a large potential for the work to be made more effective.
The founders of SGBC are Vasakronan, Akademiska hus, Skanska, NCC, IVL, White, SEB, the city of Stockholm, the city of Malmö, Sweco, DTZ as well as Fastighetsägarna.(the Swedish Property Federation). Monica von Schmalensee, Stockholm office manager at White Arkitekter has been chosen as chairman for SGBC.
“We have a number of different good environmental ideas in Sweden. This forum’s ambition is to make use of the knowledge regarding these ideas and to gather them all together under one umbrella organization. An increasing number of clients, for example, want to be able to compare the environmental classification of different premises in an objective way. Therefore producing an internationally accepted standard for environmental classification will be one of the first concrete activities for SGBC. If we consider the clients’ demands in our work and make the environmental work transparent, then this will also provide concrete results,” says Monica von Schmalensee.
She will lead the new organisation that is now applying for membership to the world organisation World Green Building Council. One task will be to recruit the CEO (MD) for SGBC and build up an organisation. Then the next step will be to broaden the organisation and recruit members from the construction and property sectors and appertaining activities. This means property and construction companies, building material companies, architects, technical consultants, investors, banks, insurance companies, research and education, authorities and the media.
“With a Swedish Green Building Council we now have the opportunity to gather together those people who really want to make buildings more environmentally friendly, housing as well as commercial premises. Put this way we will become a stronger party in discussions with politicians, authorities and other decision-makers. A unique platform that will also highlight Sweden as a leading country in environmental issues in an international connection,” continues Monica von Schmalensee.
For more information, please contact:
Monica von Schmalensee
Chairman Sweden Green Building Council
Telephone: 0706-536046
E-mail: monica.von.schmalensee@white.se