BIZ BUZZ: Going green in the concrete jungle

Sustainability can sometimes seem antithetical to congested, polluted Metro Manila, where concrete is abundant and breathing room increasingly scarce.

But Height Realty Inc. (HRI) believes there is still plenty of room for green in the capital region.

Its maiden development, the 33.6-hectare Southlinks Estate in Las Piñas, has become the first development in Metro Manila to earn a five-star Berde district rating—the highest under the country’s national green building certification program.

Berde, which fittingly translates to “green” in Filipino, stands for Building for Ecologically Responsive Design Excellence. It is a voluntary rating system that assesses developments against sustainability standards set by the Philippine Green Building Council (PhilGBC).

Southlinks Estate and its commercial component, Southlinks Promenade, secured the distinction for the planning stage, meaning their sustainability plans had undergone independent assessment, audit and verification.

In examining Southlinks Estate, BERDE focused on how an entire community interacts with its natural surroundings, withstands future risks and ultimately shapes the quality of life of its residents.

“Southlinks is not simply about developing residential and commercial spaces,” HRI president and CEO Kevin Kristopher Wong said. “It is about creating a district that is sustainable, resilient and designed with the future in mind.”

For HRI, the five-star rating is only the first test, as succeeding Berde stages will determine whether those green plans survive the transition from the drawing board to construction, operations and property management.