Business Management Executive Q&A
Feb 1, 2008
Editor-in-chief Suzann D. Silverman spoke with Nokia vice president of workplace resources Mark Tamburro about the telecommunications company’s current real estate initiatives and his upcoming role as chair of CoreNet Global. What follows are Tamburro’s comments on the company’s sustainability efforts. For more on its other initiatives, see the February 2008 issue of CPN or search for “Mark Tamburro.”
CPN: Sustainability seems historically to have been important to your company. And I believe you introduced LEED-related efforts last year. What are your plans for pursuing LEED certification within your portfolio?
Tamburro: Last year, we committed that all of our major projects will go for LEED Gold (certification). In fact, the Beijing campus that is just being handed over, that’s a gold-status LEED. It’s applied for and I believe we’ll get the gold LEED status. That’s one of a handful in China. … But not only that on an operational, but also a project basis, we have a very comprehensive environmental and sustainability process and program. For instance, because we get measured in the (Dow Jones) Sustainability Index we do a lot of work on energy management measurement, et cetera. In that, again, having this information management system has really made it a lot easier than it would have been otherwise. For instance, we gathered all of the energy data emissions on all of our properties that are 3,000 square meters or over—so that’s probably about 200-odd properties worldwide—and this year we’re looking to extend that to the majority of the portfolio. So we have very specific energy measurements. … Twenty-four percent of our energy today is renewable, and we’re looking to increase that over time. We do a lot of work on looking at ways of … putting in new technologies and equipment in our buildings to really find ways of reducing what we do—reducing our energy, reducing our water intake, et cetera, et cetera.
CPN: Are you implementing measures across your portfolio? And are you expecting to pursue any LEED for Existing Buildings accreditations?
Tamburro: Yes. We’ve got a major refit program. … All of our major projects, whether they are brand new or refurb, are going for gold status on LEED. As it happens … a lot of our existing products already have a lot of the things in place that you need to get to LEED status. Most of them would qualify for silver today, but what we’re doing is we’re taking the next step. Where we’re doing the refurbs, we’re really pushing those to gold where we can.
CPN: You mentioned Beijing and I believe you’re doing this in Romania as well. Are there any special challenges to pursuing the LEED certifications in these countries?
Tamburro: They all have their own challenges. I don’t think there are any specifically any more difficult or easier. We found that with proper planning, and basically from the outset, ensuring this is adopted within the whole plan, it can be done. So we’ve got Beijing, we’ve got Romania, where we’re also trying to obtain gold—really, all of our main products going forward will be gold LEED status. That’s our intention, anyway.
CPN: How are these efforts perceived in emerging markets? And is that changing?
Tamburro: Where we’ve done these projects there’s always a positive response, whether it’s from the local community or the authorities when you mention that you’re doing anything to do with benefiting the environment, whether that’s LEED or trying to do something for the local community or whatever.
Editor-in-chief Suzann D. Silverman spoke with Nokia vice president of workplace resources Mark Tamburro about the telecommunications company’s current real estate initiatives and his upcoming role as chair of CoreNet Global. What follows are Tamburro’s comments on the company’s sustainability efforts. For more on its other initiatives, see the February 2008 issue of CPN or search for “Mark Tamburro.”
CPN: Sustainability seems historically to have been important to your company. And I believe you introduced LEED-related efforts last year. What are your plans for pursuing LEED certification within your portfolio?
Tamburro: Last year, we committed that all of our major projects will go for LEED Gold (certification). In fact, the Beijing campus that is just being handed over, that’s a gold-status LEED. It’s applied for and I believe we’ll get the gold LEED status. That’s one of a handful in China. … But not only that on an operational, but also a project basis, we have a very comprehensive environmental and sustainability process and program. For instance, because we get measured in the (Dow Jones) Sustainability Index we do a lot of work on energy management measurement, et cetera. In that, again, having this information management system has really made it a lot easier than it would have been otherwise. For instance, we gathered all of the energy data emissions on all of our properties that are 3,000 square meters or over—so that’s probably about 200-odd properties worldwide—and this year we’re looking to extend that to the majority of the portfolio. So we have very specific energy measurements. … Twenty-four percent of our energy today is renewable, and we’re looking to increase that over time. We do a lot of work on looking at ways of … putting in new technologies and equipment in our buildings to really find ways of reducing what we do—reducing our energy, reducing our water intake, et cetera, et cetera.
CPN: Are you implementing measures across your portfolio? And are you expecting to pursue any LEED for Existing Buildings accreditations?
Tamburro: Yes. We’ve got a major refit program. … All of our major projects, whether they are brand new or refurb, are going for gold status on LEED. As it happens … a lot of our existing products already have a lot of the things in place that you need to get to LEED status. Most of them would qualify for silver today, but what we’re doing is we’re taking the next step. Where we’re doing the refurbs, we’re really pushing those to gold where we can.
CPN: You mentioned Beijing and I believe you’re doing this in Romania as well. Are there any special challenges to pursuing the LEED certifications in these countries?
Tamburro: They all have their own challenges. I don’t think there are any specifically any more difficult or easier. We found that with proper planning, and basically from the outset, ensuring this is adopted within the whole plan, it can be done. So we’ve got Beijing, we’ve got Romania, where we’re also trying to obtain gold—really, all of our main products going forward will be gold LEED status. That’s our intention, anyway.
CPN: How are these efforts perceived in emerging markets? And is that changing?
Tamburro: Where we’ve done these projects there’s always a positive response, whether it’s from the local community or the authorities when you mention that you’re doing anything to do with benefiting the environment, whether that’s LEED or trying to do something for the local community or whatever.
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