Aside from pioneering the innovative mixed-use development called townships, Megaworld, the country’s leading real estate developer, spearheaded another first in the country. Through the company’s commitment in providing environmental sustainability, its new 8 Campus Place Building A in McKinley Hill was recognized as the country’s first LEED Gold-certified building for Business Process Outsourcing (BPOs) companies.

LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environment Design, is a green building ratings program developed by the U.S. Green Building Council or USGBC. LEED is the most widely accepted and recognized green building rating system worldwide.

“Megaworld remains committed to underpin the company’s vision of creating communities that promote sustainability for the environment and maximizing the use of land. We develop a masterplan where residential, commercial, and office towers will be in one secured location while we are building environment-friendly structures. Expect more green office towers in the years to come in the company,” says Kevin L. Tan, chief strategy officer, Megaworld.

The 8 Campus Place Building A, which is now occupied the American bank, Wells Fargo, for their global business services is the first LEED gold certified project under the LEED for Core & Shell category in McKinley Hill. 8 Campus Place is comprised of three 5-storey buildings with a total leasable floor area of 30,000 sq. meters.

Megaworld and their LEED Consultant, Barone International, are proud of several noteworthy sustainable features in the building, such as, reduced number of parking spaces to encourage the building occupants to use public transportation instead of private vehicles, accommodations for bicycle storage, and shower facilities for individuals that prefer to take a more sustainable commute to their work. The building uses 45% less water than standard buildings by providing water efficient plumbing fixtures. Additionally, the exterior landscape was designed to use no potable water for irrigating plants and vegetation. The use of wide-glass architecture was carefully planned to infiltrate natural light into the building by installing double glazed gas-filled insulated (Low-E) glass to reflect the sun’s heat away from the building to reduce the air conditioning need inside the building. The construction materials contained more than 30% recycled content and the project earned a bonus point by using over 30% of locally available materials produced within the Philippines. The building implemented many innovative indoor air quality features, including the provision of CO2 sensors to ensure fresh air delivery to the building occupants and use of low emitting paints and materials (Low-VOC) throughout the interior spaces.

To assure the energy systems installed in the building were functioning properly after they were installed, an independent third party commissioning agent – Facilities Analysis & Controls, Ltd (FAC), coordinated with Megaworld’s Property Management office and the company’s Facility Manager, to ensure that the sophisticated green building will function properly and efficiently for many years.

Megaworld is the country’s leading real estate developer and no. 1 BPO office landlord and developer in the Philippines. The company has pioneered the “LIVE-WORK-PLAY-LEARN” lifestyle concept for mixed-use communities in the Philippines, which are popularly known as “townships.”

To date, the Megaworld group has 15 townships in the most strategic locations in the country. These are the 18-hectare Eastwood City, the country’s first-ever cyber park; the 50-hectare McKinley Hill in Fort Bonifacio; the 25-hectare Newport City in Pasay City; the 5-hectare Forbes Town Center in Fort Bonifacio; the 28.8-hectare The Mactan Newtown in Lapu-lapu City, Mactan, Cebu; the 15.4-hectare Uptown Bonifacio in Fort Bonifacio; the 34.5-hectare McKinley West in Fort Bonifacio; the 12.3-hectare Woodside City in Pasig City; the 11-hectare Davao Park District in Davao City; the 72-hectare Iloilo Business Park in Iloilo City; the 350-hectare Suntrust Ecotown of its wholly-owned subsidiary Suntrust; GERI’s 561-hectare Southwoods City on the boundaries of Cavite and Laguna; the 150-hectare Boracay Newcoast in Boracay Island; the 1,300-hectare Twin Lakes in Tagaytay; and the 62-hectare Alabang West.

Over the past 25 years, the Megaworld group has emerged as the country’s No.1 real estate organization. It has completed more than 340 residential and office buildings with a total area of around 5.8 million square meters. Currently, about 200 residential, office and hotel buildings with a total area of around 6-million square meters are under development.