Miodrag Perović, Senior Development Manager, CPI Property Group - STOP SHOP Subotica will become our largest retail park by the end of the year

(Photo: CPI Property Group)

In this, as well as in other retail centers, the company is guided by the postulates of environmental protection - in four STOP SHOP retail parks, the concept of an urban forest has been implemented, solar power plants are being built in four more locations, with the intention that in the future the project will be implemented in all 14 STOP SHOP locations in Serbia, where chargers for electric vehicles and smart solar benches with mobile phone chargers are already installed.

Miodrag Perović, Senior Development Manager, CPI Property Group, reveals why these projects are important, which says that financial benefits cannot always be seen immediately in activities that recognize ESG norms, but in the long term, savings can be clearly detected.

What are the main challenges in achieving sustainability and ESG goals in the retail park industry and do "green" investments bring financial savings, in addition to protecting the environment?

- ESG does not only represent environmental protection, but also responsible management of resources and respect for the highest standards of civilization during planning, construction and management of facilities and overall business. In practice, acting socially responsible towards the community and the overall well-being of the planet.

Although financial benefits cannot always be seen immediately in activities that recognize ESG norms, in the long term savings can be clearly detected and the quality that our retail parks provide to tenants and visitors can be recognized.

In relation to European markets, where sustainability goals through ESG have become part of legal regulations, mandatory corporate reporting and a way of positive recognition of companies, our local market has not yet matured in this sense and does not attach great importance to the implementation of such measures. Our initiatives are more clearly recognized by international tenants, who transmit and implement the group policy of their companies through local offices and who are more willing to follow us in the realization of new ESG trends for our market.

In daily business, compliance with ESG guidelines is reflected, among other things, in strict compliance with internal regulations such as "Code of Conduct", "Regulation on Environmental Protection", "Regulation on Sustainable Procurement", "Regulation on Circular Economy", which optimizes work and resources, acquires material that meets sustainable development standards, enables recycling and respects all social and legal norms.

In which retail parks did you realize the concept of "urban forest" and what does it mean?

-Urban Forest (Miyawaki method) was realized in retail parks STOP SHOP Lazarevac, STOP SHOP Sremska Mitrovica, STOP SHOP Vršac and STOP SHOP Subotica.

The Miyawaki technique involves planting dense native forests on smaller areas, around 100 m2 in an urban environment. The selection of seedlings is such that it enables the growth of numerous types of plants that develop at different altitude zones, increases biodiversity, lowers the temperature in concrete asphalt heat islands, improves the outflow and absorption of storm water, prevents landslides, reduces pollution and noise.

At each location, as part of the implementation of the Urban Forest concept, over 1,500 seedlings, 30 indigenous plant species, were planted, which grow in height, inhabiting different altitude levels, thus achieving in a 100% natural way, 10 times faster growth, 30 times greater density, and at the same time providing 100 times more biodiversity.

The most significant advantage of the Miyawaki method is self-sustainability, which is achieved after 3 years of planting the forest, which means that after that period, regular maintenance of the plantations is not necessary.

You are currently building solar power plants at four STOP SHOP locations, with the intention of implementing the project at all 14 STOP SHOP locations in Serbia in the future. After how long does this investment pay off for the retail park itself, and what are the benefits for the environment, especially in terms of lower CO2 emissions?

- After the pilot project in the retail park STOP SHOP Pozarevac, this year we started the construction of solar power plants at four more STOP SHOP locations with a total capacity of 3.8 MWp with an estimated annual production of 4.2 GWh. The return on investment depends on many factors, including nature and its bounty, especially in terms of the number of hours of sunshine in the years to come. Our expectations are that the investment can be recouped in a period of 7 to 8 years.

By realizing the planned production at four new locations, the carbon footprint would be reduced by about 3,500 t of CO2, i.e. it would prevent its release into the atmosphere, which would otherwise occur due to the burning of coal in thermal power plants required for the production of this electricity replaced by solar power plants. If they did not realize these savings, about 100 hectares of forest would be needed to absorb the produced carbon dioxide.

In the following period, when the plan is realized and solar power plants are installed on all 14 STOP SHOP facilities, the positive effect in full scale will be much more significant and will represent a big step for our company in reducing the emission of gases that cause the greenhouse effect and will allow us to get closer to energy neutrality.

All parks in your portfolio are BREEAM sustainability certified. Being a BREEAM assessor yourself, in which phase is it most difficult to achieve sustainability - the construction phase or later management of the retail park?

- BREEAM is one of the leading building protocols that sets standards for best practice in sustainable development and is a benchmark used to describe the environmental, energy and sustainability performance of a building. There are several different types of certification within the BREEAM framework. For our STOP SHOP retail parks, the most suitable BREEAM In-Use certification method was selected, which evaluates the facility during its exploitation period.

Each certification process brings different challenges, but in principle, a universal rule could be applied here too, that it is better to start as soon as possible and thus achieve a better score with timely planning, i.e. the answer to your question would be that it is better to approach the certification according to BREEAM New Construction standards at the earliest stage of project planning, which would direct the project towards the undoubtedly proven guidelines of sustainable development.

All your STOP SHOP retail parks have electric vehicle chargers and smart solar benches with mobile phone chargers and internet access installed. Are visitors interested in using them?

- These are all contents offered to our visitors, which promote sustainable development and ESG aspects. For different target groups, each of the listed benefits is a useful addition that completes and enriches the experience of shopping and staying in STOP SHOP retail parks.

Global trends are slowly coming to us as well, so from year to year we notice an increased number of electric vehicles on our streets, not only those in transit through our country, but also those with our license plates. All our locations are ready to offer the convenience of electric vehicle charging and allow drivers to spend a pleasant time shopping while their electric car is being recharged in the parking lot.

Although queues and crowds at the vehicle charging points are not yet observed, we expect that soon there will be a positive turn in that segment and that their importance and demand will increase to a great extent.

One of the current investments is the construction of phase II of the STOP SHOP Subotica retail park. How much additional space will this retail park get and when is the expected completion of construction?

- STOP SHOP Subotica, as one of the most successful retail parks from our portfolio in Serbia, will become an even more dominant and comprehensive retail center from this year, not only in the area of Subotica, but also beyond.

With an additional 13 new tenants on the newly built 5,680 square meters, we will complete our offer and make the retail park STOP SHOP Subotica our largest retail park with a total of 15,670 m2 of commercial space.

Construction will start in April 2024, and the new stores will be open to visitors by the end of 2024.