SM’s NEO seeks resiliency certification for its buildings

SM INVESTMENTS Corp.’s NEO group is planning to get all of its buildings resiliency-certified by global development institution International Finance Corp. (IFC) early next year.

“There’s a rating now called the Building Resilience Index by the IFC. We’re doing that for all of our buildings. So, by next year, we’ll have a resiliency rating for every single NEO building,” NEO Chief Executive Officer Raymond D. Rufino told BusinessWorld.

The rating aims to provide the building sector with a web-hazard mapping and resilience assessment framework. It measures how buildings can withstand earthquakes, typhoons, and other risks present in their location, Mr. Rufino said.

“It’s under process now so baka malamang first quarter next year ’yun lalabas, ’yung rating namin (I think the result of the ratings will come out by first quarter next year),“ he said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Rufino said that the company is planning to release its first sustainability report in the coming weeks.

“It was very challenging but we’re very excited. We’re gonna release that in the coming weeks,” he said.

“I’m very proud of that report. I think it’s a very good quality report for a private company. I think it’s gonna be a great first effort and I look forward to doing that every year,” he added.

Mr. Rufino said doing the report was not that hard for the group as it has pushed early on for sustainability initiatives.

“Since talagang nandoon na kami (Since we’re already there), we’ve always been pushing for energy reduction [and the like], it was not hard for us kasi madami na kaming nagawa (we already did so many) from before,” he said.

“I guess if you’re starting from zero [it would be more] challenging,” Mr. Rufino said about getting a sustainability report done.

At present, all seven buildings of NEO have certifications from Building for Ecologically Responsive Design Excellence, Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies, WELL Building Standard, and Advancing Net Zero Philippines.

The seven buildings — One/NEO, Two/NEO, Three/NEO, Four/NEO, Five/NEO, Six/Neo, and Seven/NEO — are all at Bonifacio Global City in Taguig City. — Justine Irish D. Tabile