Invesco Real Estate: ESG Real Estate case study - Casei Gerola Logistics Park

Along the A7 highway that connects Milan to Genoa sits the Casei Gerola Logistics Park. Designed by Italian architects SFRE, it’s now one of the most sustainable logistics developments in Europe. 

Developed specifically for Invesco Real Estate’s European Value-Add programme, Casei Gerola Logistics Park is a flagship example of an "ESG compliant" real estate development. Built on the site of the Fornaci Laterizi Danesi (Danish brick kilns), the project was able to repurpose around 50,000m³ of debris from the demolition of the original building to backfill foundation excavations. This meant there was no impact on the surrounding agricultural land.
 

Hashing out the E, the S and the G – achieving LEED Platinum Certification

Real estate services specialist CBRE project managed the build, with its sustainability team overseeing the environmental, social and governance (ESG) side. Together, they made sure that all the sustainability criteria needed to achieve LEED Platinum status were in place.

The CBRE team also pursued the pre-certification path to demonstrate its commitment to innovation and sustainability and better introduce the project to the market.

The project consists of two warehouse buildings. WHA, the smallest one, is around 20.852 sqm in size. Meanwhile, WHB is around 85.512 sqm, and is located on the same site.

The two buildings share site services such as green areas, a lamination basin, parking areas and a rainwater tank. The entire project is designed to achieve the maximum level of LEED certification.

Inside the warehouses, there are office spaces dedicated to administrative and service functions.

The buildings are equipped with high efficiency mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) systems, air-condensed heat pumps with high COP and EER, an LED lighting system with automatic controls, heat recoveries for ventilation with efficient filters, and PV panels installed on the roof.

Tap water usage has been reduced using low-flow equipment and rainwater is used for irrigation and flushing toilets. Additionally, the vegetation planted on the site doesn’t require much water. The design of green areas is focused on maintaining and integrating local biodiversity. Vertical green walls (walls with plants and greenery growing up them) have also been added. These will contribute to a further reduction in atmospheric CO2 emissions.

On the social side, the local community has been an important stakeholder in the process. The municipality will benefit from important urbanisation works. Not only that, but the development will also create more than 200 job positions and ancillary economic opportunities for the municipality and surrounding area. 

Why invest in value-add investment strategies with Invesco?

In periods of economic uncertainty, with pressure from the likes of rising inflation and rising interest rates, value-add investing seeks to take advantage of inefficiencies throughout the market cycle. An “all-weather”, relative value approach, it reduces reliance on macroeconomic factors. It can exploit tactical acquisition opportunities, acquiring assets at historically attractive entry pricing. Against this backdrop, we believe our value-add strategy could offer investors attractive opportunities.

Invesco Real Estate’s value-add strategies aim to deliver enhanced returns by utilising the strength of locally based teams to originate attractive opportunities. Business plans built around intensive asset management are designed to create or reposition differentiated assets for sale to the core market. We also integrate best-in-class ESG practices into the strategy.