Multistorey buildings: a path towards more sustainable commercial real estate
Carbon reduction is a critical challenge for the construction industry, both in the industrial and logistics sectors. Multistorey buildings support this sustainability goal, while offering an effective solution to the issues of land scarcity and urban densification. Besides optimising space, they can include innovations that minimise their environmental impacts.
When designing a building, GSE carries out its own detailed carbon assessments and lifecycle analyses, identifying the most polluting materials. We then suggest suitable low-carbon options – such as timber facades, low-carbon concrete slabs, bio-based paints and recycled materials. These can significantly reduce the carbon footprint of your multistorey project.
Optimising land use and improving energy performance
Making good use of urban space and improving energy performance are crucial issues when designing modern commercial real estate. Multistorey buildings offer an effective solution to both these challenges, optimising land use and reducing energy consumption.
Optimising land use in urban areas
By building up rather than out, you shrink your facility’s footprint: the surface of soil that it seals. This reduces the need for development in the suburbs or in rural areas, preventing urban sprawl. Multistorey buildings thereby help reduce emissions linked to transport and infrastructure management. They also bring your activities closer together – just one floor up or down.
Reduced energy consumption
By grouping activities within the same building, it becomes easier to implement collective energy solutions serving all floors. Vertical buildings also enable more efficient use of renewable energy, for example by installing rooftop solar panels and smart energy management technologies.
Enhanced energy performance
More compact, multistorey buildings deliver superior energy efficiency. And this can be further improved by adopting high-performance, even innovative technologies. For instance, efficient heat pumps and/or geothermal systems, as well as renewable power sources (from solar panels, storage solutions, e-mobility charging stations, etc.), can significantly improve your building’s energy performance.
By concentrating activities over several floors and integrating advanced energy technologies, multistorey buildings both limit urban sprawl and maximise energy efficiency. They are a major step towards more sustainable urban development.
Vertical buildings: combining comfort, energy efficiency and environmental performance
Cutting carbon and boosting energy efficiency have become key criteria in commercial real estate design. By choosing eco-friendly materials and incorporating bioclimatic design principles & effective thermal insulation, a multistorey building can achieve a high level of environmental performance.
Low-impact materials
Construction materials are a major part of a building’s total carbon footprint. For example :
- Low-carbon concrete: systematically using low-carbon concrete reduces CO₂ emissions by 30%, compared to conventional concrete.
Bioclimatic design and effective thermal insulation
- Bioclimatic design: a building’s design should take into account climatic factors such as exposure to the sun, the orientation of windows and natural ventilation. Attention to these elements reduces the need for air conditioning and heating.
- Green façades and innovative materials: creating a green façade and using appropriate materials can both improve your building’s look and mitigate urban heat islands. For example, polycarbonate walls – thanks to their honeycomb structure – channel natural light while providing good thermal insulation and helping to manage infrared solar radiation.
Intelligent design and appropriate materials will optimise a multistorey building’s environmental and energy performance.
A green building’s key benefits for businesses and occupants
Environmentally responsible buildings bring many benefits to investors and their occupants. In addition to the financial returns, they deliver significant boosts to corporate reputation and employee morale.
Long-term cost reduction
Although building a low-footprint facility may require a larger initial investment, the reduced energy costs – along with the tax and regulatory benefits associated with environmental standards – ensure higher returns in the long run.
Improved occupant wellbeing
Environmentally friendly buildings, thoughtfully designed and including green spaces, improve employee comfort and productivity. A healthy, well-ventilated workplace with plenty of natural light is essential to attract and retain talent.
Brand image and compliance with environmental standards
A multistorey logistical or industrial facility supports your company’s image as a responsible player, sensitive to the needs of the planet – as well as to consumers’ and investors’ expectations regarding sustainability.
Investing in a green building makes financial sense in the long run. It also provides a pleasant and sustainable workplace. This approach strengthens the investor’s position as a responsible stakeholder, meeting growing expectations of environmental performance.
Fly Parc, an innovative & sustainable building near the Paris airport
In the fast-growing Aérolians development zone in Tremblay-en-France, near Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, stands an impressive 23,065 m² commercial building. Fly Parc’s 19 modular units – starting at 470 m² – offer space for storage, modern offices and showrooms.
This project has an ambitious objective: to promote design and construction boasting high energy performance, a reduced carbon footprint, outstanding comfort for users and harmonious integration into the surrounding biodiversity.
Recognised for its commitment to the environment, the building received the BREEAM Very Good certificate, the E+C- label to the E2C1 level and BiodiverCity Basic label. These distinctions make it a model of sustainability & innovation in the real estate sector.
Multistorey buildings help meet the challenges of sustainability in commercial real estate. By designing in low-carbon solutions, they can considerably reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while optimising the use of urban space. For stakeholders in industrial and logistics real estate, these buildings are both an investment in the future and a strategic asset to satisfy user expectations while complying with environmental standards.
