Kiwi Property Group’s Sylvia Park has become New Zealand’s first shopping centre to join a pilot project for a National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS) energy efficiency rating.

The asset, which has 1134 solar panels, has earned the highest NABERS energy shopping centre rating of six stars.

New Zealand does not have an environmental certification for existing shopping centres, thus, Kiwi Property turned to NABERS to go through the assessment as a pilot project in line with its commitment to energy efficiency.

“This is a tangible example of our ambition to become net carbon negative in our operations
by 2030. We’re proud to lead the pilot project initiative and be the first in the country to
undertake an assessment under this programme,” said Linda Trainer, GM of asset management at Kiwi Property.

“We want to be a champion for sustainability in our industry as we collectively strive to tackle climate change.”

The company said it will continue to work with the New Zealand Green Building Council (NZGBC) to explore the opportunity to adopt the Australian framework in the country.

“The NABERS energy rating pilot has been a huge success and we are in full support of making this measurement available in New Zealand. We are seeing tremendous interest in building owners verifying their building performance throughout Aotearoa,” said Bobby Shen, NZGBC spokesperson.

“Other shopping centres are keen to follow Kiwi Property’s lead and seek similar certification, helping to shift the sector towards a greener future.”