Merin excels with BREEAM and WELL
Merin leases office space throughout the Netherlands, and they take this activity very seriously. According to Merin, a workplace should bring out the best in people. Doing that depends on happiness, health and success. So it was a natural choice for Merin to join forces with CFP and start working with BREEAM and WELL. Read Merin’s story and discover the added value of BREEAM and WELL.
Starting with the foundation: EPCs
For Merin, the first step towards a sustainable and healthy portfolio was to meet the upcoming EPC C requirement. To help them do this, CFP carried out a number of energy scans, after which 16 buildings came through with an improved EPC. Maarten Verzijl, sustainability manager at Merin, explains: “The energy scan indicates very specifically what steps you can take to make a label jump. For example, we had a building in Gorinchem with an EPC of G. The energy scan revealed a number of measures, and after the first thing we did, replacing the boilers, we immediately went to EPC D. We then did a few more things like switching to LED lighting, and in the end, we had gone from that EPC G to a B – in just a year and a half.”
“What makes CFP different is that they give useful advice that you can really put into in practice. We take that and look at the measures that are easiest to implement; moreover, these often turn out to be the most cost-effective.“
– Maarten Verzijl, Merin
Next target: BREEAM Excellent
All Merin buildings now comply with the label C requirement. But the ambition for self-managed office buildings goes further: take, for example, the new Gaudi building in Amsterdam. “We work with various companies to save energy, reduce CO2 and increase the comfort of the lessees. CFP is an important resource for doing this, and they also participate in Gaudi’s construction meetings with the contractors, suppliers and architects. We are aiming for a BREEAM rating of ‘Excellent’, so it’s useful to have someone who can navigate you through all the credits from the start and give advice on the measures that will really help.”
CFP knows many BREEAM examples and can provide good advice. “What measures will we ultimately implement, and which will we not? In making that decision, we always consider two things: the most important one is the added value for the tenants. And we also look at the costs.”
Look into the future
However, Gaudi is not the only building where Merin is maximising sustainability and comfort. “Nowadays, you have to include a number of things anyway, such as comfort, BREEAM and WELL, because the market is increasingly demanding them. Initially, we want to get 5 buildings up to a BREEAM Excellent rating. In the future, we want to have our entire portfolio in Amsterdam and Hoofddorp BREEAM certified — 17 properties in total.”
Merin likes to go the extra mile, which is why they started working with the BREEAM and WELL standards. “We have also had a WELL quickscan carried out for a number of buildings, which Merin is using to investigate the added value of the WELL standard in pursuit of its mission to provide workplaces where people can be happy, healthy and successful,” Maarten concludes. This will ultimately enable Merin to be a good WELL example for others.
Does the example of Merin’s journey into the world of BREEAM inspire you, too? Or do you have your eye on the WELL standard like Merin does? Contact us to discuss the possibilities for BREEAM and WELL!
