Bogotá office awarded world-class sustainability certification  

Our current Bogotá office has achieved LEED Gold certification, a globally recognised symbol of sustainability achievement from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). 

This marks our Edificio Nueve 5 address as one of only 131 LEED certified projects in Colombia to have received the gold certification, against a backdrop of approximately 33,000 worldwide, of which almost 700 are in Latin America.  

In our category of LEED v4 ID+C: Commercial Interiors, which covers interior spaces dedicated to functions other than retail or hospitality, we are one of only 20 projects in Colombia to achieve this distinction, joining a group of about 6,000 globally and 275 in Latin America alone.  

Nine of these projects were certified gold in Colombia during 2023, two of which we also provided project management services for, supporting AstraZeneca’s office and the New Zealand Embassy in Bogota. 

Receiving this certification demonstrates our business’ commitment to sustainability, operational energy efficiency, and employee and environmental wellbeing, and now places us as pioneers among our peers in Colombia for its commitment to sustainability, environmental wellbeing and operational energy efficiency. 

After operating in Colombia for over a decade, our office move here in 2022 was a milestone in aligning our operations in Latin America to a low-carbon future and creating an innovative, healthy workplace for our people and clients in a location with great transportation connections. 

To achieve the LEED certification, our Colombia office underwent a thorough assessment of its facilities for operational efficiency, quality of the indoor environment, and access to surrounding infrastructure. Some of the sustainability benefits highlighted in our office include: 

• Optimising the design of utilities to save approximately 10 percent of energy and 40 percent of water usage, thus improving efficiency and avoiding wastage of resources.
• Careful curation and implementation of sustainable materials, including second-hand lighting fixtures and furniture, to reduce waste and create an environmentally sound atmosphere.
• Efficient disposal of all construction waste, in line with Colombian environmental regulations, to mitigate and reduce environmental impact.
• Using office chairs made with over 50 percent of recycled materials.
• Ensuring 25 percent of our workstations have height-adjustable work surfaces, catering to our people’s productivity needs and comfort.
• Prioritising natural light, air quality and thermal comfort to benefit all occupants. 

Through internal initiatives, our Colombia team is also committed to promoting more sustainable transportation options, such as bicycles, scooters, carpooling, and public transportation, to help reduce the carbon footprints of our communities and our team’s reliance on cars. 

One such initiative, “The New Leaf Olympics”, was a six-month contest to measure and improve the carbon footprint of our people in Colombia resulting in a 35 percent reduction of the team’s carbon footprint through the implementation of individual and team-wide measures. 

Magally Rojas, Director, Real Estate, said:  

Being awarded a LEED Gold certification for our Colombia office demonstrates our business’ commitment to embracing sustainability-led development in our Latin American operations. 

“The LEED certification is a global badge of honour in sustainability and human-centric design, and receiving this recognition reinforces our purpose to transform the performance of our workplaces and contribute to making a greener, more inclusive, and productive world.”  

Images from left to right: Our award-winning team and office in Bogota office, Colombia