Property manager Koenraad Belsack raises bar

'By 2035 our company will be carbon neutral, then carbon negative'

It's clear: The construction industry must take more action to reduce carbon emissions. "Sustainable building should not be a 'greenwashing' or PR tool," says Koenraad Belsack, CO-CEO at the Belgian Upgrade Estate in Ghent, known among other things for its Upkot brand as a student housing provider. "It's about daring to plant your own flag - the point on the horizon - and then objectively measuring and communicating your progress."

"We are therefore going in search of objective measurability of our sustainable developments, so that you can better keep a finger on the pulse and make adjustments. We aim for the 'Butterfly effect': we want to set a flywheel in motion whereby the effect of our sustainability efforts also becomes tangible outside our own organization. To measure these effects, we use the Future Fit Business Bench Mark, based on the scientifically substantiated SDGs."

Ecological perspective

"One of the impact zones, besides the social and administrative, is the ecological perspective. The basis of that is caring for our natural environment, which is close to my personal heart," Belsack said. "We do this by generating green energy in our buildings through our own Energy Service Company Limoengroen. We also measure how much CO2 is released during the construction of our projects. For example, we found that steel and concrete contain very much 'embodied carbon.' A sustainable alternative is wood. If you use wood to build with, you store CO2 over a long period of time. So with wood, there is a negative CO2 effect."

"This is why we are already designing (and building!) much more in wood. However, wood is not an alternative everywhere, such as in the foundations of new buildings or for the construction of basements. But you can get closer to your goals of emitting less CO2 by cleverly combining wood. Indeed, I am convinced that after the target year 2035 we can even become CO2-negative!"

Beautiful recognitions

"Acquiring sustainable insights has become an addiction for me," continues Belsack. "By actively working on this, you are always acquiring new insights that, in addition to introducing wood, also provide other interesting innovations. For that, we also received some great recognitions this year: my realVennote and CO-CEO received the recognition 'Sustainability Professional Of The Year' and Upgrade Estate became the eighth best employer of the year in Belgium via Great Place To Work."

Belsack concludes: "Just over 90% of our investors in our brands find sustainability very important and for no less than 30% of our investors, sustainability is the first (!) reason to invest in our projects. So, no greenwashing or PR story, but: Practice What You Preach. Because it's about the future of our earth."

ABOUT UPGRADE ESTATE

Upgrade Estate builds housing for students, young professionals and businesses with unique integrated management and absolute focus on social, societal and ecological value. Visit www.upgrade-estate.be to read more about the social and societal added value, which, like the ecological value - as discussed in this article - are well integrated into the company's vision for the future.