An interesting statement, but all the more relevant. When we picture a building as sustainable in our minds, in most cases we see it surrounded by trees, green roofs and other such vegetation, although this is not always the case. This is not the case for the W Budapest Hotel, which won Greenest Development of the Year at this year's Real Estate Awards, the 14th edition of the Real Estate Awards organised by ingatlan.com. The hotel, which has moved into the former ballet institute building on Andrassy Avenue, does not at first glance appear green in the traditional sense. However, according to Zsombor Barta, the award presenter and founding partner of our company, sustainability has to be understood in a systemic way and thus points are already emerging that make this building green. There are three main aspects of the negative sustainability footprint of our built environment: land use, material use and energy consumption and the emissions that go with it. As W Budapest is not a new project, it is not being built on green land, but rather a new identity has been given to an existing, historic building. The old ballet institute had been unused for decades, and the renovation has extended the life of the building considerably. The renovation of an existing building is also more sustainable in terms of material use, as the material requirements for such a project are lower than for a completely new building. Less material use also means a smaller embodied carbon footprint, which is also positive.
The jury will select the greenest project of the year from all the entries to the Real Estate Awards, so that all entries have the opportunity to demonstrate elements of sustainability in their entries and the jury can validate the systemic approach to sustainability that is a key principle of the Awards. HuGBC was one of the main professional partners of the event again this year.
"It was a great pleasure and an honour to be part of the jury again this year - for this I would like to thank the organisers. Also this year, the organisers have organised a very prestigious and beautiful event - for which, of course, congratulations!"
-Zsombor Barta
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