Manama: City Centre Bahrain has reduced electricity consumption by 16%, thanks to energy management and leadership in sustainability best practice.
Majid Al Futtaim, the leading shopping mall, retail and leisure pioneer across the Middle East and North Africa, has recorded positive figures in energy, water and waste management in 2014, demonstrating the company’s leadership in best sustainable practices across the region and globally.
In 2014, Majid Al Futtaim’s utilities management practices saved the company more than AED 3.8 million in reduced operating costs; diverted from landfill more than 6000 tonnes, the equivalent to 2.5 Olympic swimming polls; and saved more than 7,700 tonnes of CO² emissions, the equivalent of planting 6311 trees.
“Majid Al Futtaim is one of the retail sector’s global leaders in applying international best practice in sustainability. In the past 4 years, we have reduced energy consumption in our shopping malls by more than 11% and water consumption by 21%,” Ibrahim Al-Zu’bi, Head of Sustainability at Majid Al Futtaim Properties, said.
“As part of our fundamental goal to create great moments for everyone, every day across all of our retail destinations, we aim to build and manage more environmentally efficient buildings which deliver social and economic benefits to our communities and visitors,” he added.
In 2014, Mall of the Emirates has reduced its water consumption by 6% compared to 2010; City Centre Mirdif has decreased water consumption by 24% and City Centre Deira has decreased the electricity consumption by 6%. City Centre Fujairah’s volume of recycled material increased by 24%; Oman malls have reduced their water consumption by 10% and City Centre Bahrain has reduced electricity consumption by 16%.
Since 2010, Majid Al Futtaim has invested more than AED 25 million in improving water and energy consumption across all properties and has built three malls – City Centre Mirdif, City Centre Beirut, and City Centre Fujairah — to LEED Gold standards. Additionally, the company has been recognised as a ‘Green Star’ by the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) who acknowledged the significant progress made to date as well as the ambitious plans for the future made by the organisation. GRESB measures energy reduction performance and sustainability policies.
Majid Al Futtaim’s sustainability strategy focuses on three main areas: high performance assets, prosperous communities and pioneering standards. With high performance assets, the aim is to create resource efficient assets, communities and infrastructures that will improve the management of water, energy, carbon and waste.
With prosperous communities, the goal is to demonstrate the socio-economic value brought to communities and promote well-being, engagement and local economic development while demonstrating leadership for the MENA Region. With pioneering standards, the focus is on improving the health and safety management systems to enhance labour conditions in the supply chain, and build and operate assets to the highest green building standards in the region.
It has now become mandatory for retailers to support the company’s sustainability drive and benefit from a programme of training workshops, tools and expertise at their disposal to help attain this objective. Majid Al Futtaim aims to create great moments for everyone, every day, across all shopping destinations in the Middle East and North Africa, with 17 shopping centres in the region featuring more than 1,000 brands in 3,000 stores.