The “Origo” shopping centre has obtained the world’s leading building sustainability assessment method’s BREEAM certification with the highest final rating among all shopping centres in the Baltic States. The “Origo” project emphasizes high standards of energy efficiency, water use and solutions to ensure accessbility for all segments of the society, as well as other sustainability standards.

For the convenience of “Origo” shopping centre visitors, a drinking water filler stand has been installed, a medical aid room has been outfitted, the centre is also now conveniently accessible to people with reduced mobility via the specially equipped elevators, and the building is now also adapted to the needs of the visually impaired customers – there are Braille signs in the elevators and on the handrails in the staircases. “Origo” is one of the first shopping centres in the Baltics to introduce tactile guides in the building, which allow visitors with visual impairments to move around comfortably. The building is also designed with families and children in mind – there is an interactive play wall, children and parents’ space, as well as special parking spaces allocated for families and other amenities.

The shopping centre and the surrounding infrastructure are designed to be equally convenient for access by car and bicycle, by public transport, by pedestrians and visitors with prams and people with reduced mobility. Several free charging stations for electric cars are available in the underground car park, as well as specially marked places for cars arriving with 2 or more people. Sustainable construction materials were used in the construction of the new “Origo” building and special attention was paid to ensuring energy efficiency, responsible use of water resources, reduction of light pollution, gentle use of cleaning products and waste sorting.

“In our work on the “Origo” expansion project, we wanted to become a model for shopping centres in terms of implementing sustainability standards, environmental accessibility and in terms of creating a comfortable environment for both employees and visitors. For a year now, we have been open to visitors, constantly improving the conditions of environmental accessibility and introducing new solutions, all of which allow us to say that our centre is a safe, environmentally friendly, and suitable shopping place for everyone. It is a pleasure that the “Origo” is the first shopping centre in the Baltics to receive a BREEAM rating of “Excllent” (i.e.,> 70%),” says Andis Kublačovs, project director of “Linstow Baltic”, the project developer.

Hadley Barrett, Head of “Green Baltics / Oxford Sustainable”: “We are really pleased to have had a successful partnership with “Linstow Baltic”, implementing projects with a record-high rating in Latvia and the Baltics. Our team is pleased to complete the work on this excellent and sustainable building, which is in an excellent location in Riga and will perfectly complement the ambitious Rail Baltica project.”

The highest BREEAM scores were received in the following categories:

• transport (100%);
• water (100%);
• land use and ecology (90%);
• waste (86%)
• energy (79%).

BREEAM (British Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) is an internationally recognised system for the assessment of offices, shopping centres, apartment buildings, etc., in accordance with various sustainability criteria.  The rating can be obtained during the design stage, after the construction is completed, as well as for buildings that have been built in the past.