Madrid Nuevo Norte becomes the first urban development project in Europe to simultaneously obtain the sustainability pre-certification ‘LEED for Communities Plan and Design’ with ‘Gold’ level, as well as the provisional certificate ‘BREEAM ES Urbanismo 2020’, two of the most prestigious sustainability seals in the world.

With this recognition, Madrid Nuevo Norte becomes an “international pioneer”, as it is the first urban project in Europe to obtain both provisional certificates, which makes it “an international benchmark in the field of sustainable urban development”.

The simultaneous obtaining of both pre-certifications is a recognition of the sustainability push of Madrid Nuevo Norte and guarantees the commitment of the project with “the highest sustainability standards during its execution phase, following the differentiated and complementary criteria of both international seals”.

While ‘BREEAM’ focuses on establishing strategic principles and requirements as a comprehensive guide for sustainability decisions, ‘LEED’ emphasizes the definition of quantifiable parameters that measure and evaluate each of the concrete measures adopted by the project.

Smarttia’s CEO, Manuel García, one of the project’s main private developers, considers that “this milestone is a very important step to promote a new sustainable urbanism model in the city and in the region and positions Madrid Nuevo Norte as the most innovative and advanced urban development in Europe in terms of urban sustainability”.

Sustainability Commitment

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), an American institution that grants the ‘LEED’ seal, has valued “the commendable commitments of Madrid Nuevo Norte with sustainability” and has recognized the measures that this action has implemented since its planning phase as the keys for the project to have obtained the pre-certification with ‘Gold’ level, the second highest of the four that they grant.

After becoming, in June 2020, the first urban action in the design phase of the entire continent to start the process of obtaining this seal, the project continues to “open the way” with the pre-certification now obtained, being the largest scale to achieve it and the second in general, only behind Siemensstadt, in Berlin.

The president and CEO of the USGBC, Mahesh Ramanujam, has valued obtaining this pre-certification as “the commitment that the promoters of Madrid Nuevo Norte have acquired with citizens to prioritize their health and prosperity in the coming decades, after having understood the need to focus on the development of smart cities and communities, resilient and inclusive to achieve a sustainable future for all”.

For his part, the general director of GBCI Europe, the body in charge of managing LEED certifications in Europe, Kay Killmann, has added that the score obtained by Madrid Nuevo Norte in the pre-certification would place the project “among the 25% of the most sustainable developments within the LEED program for Cities and communities around the world and in the most advanced in Europe”, once the final certification has been obtained.

Mixed uses and infrastructure

On the other hand, with its more than 230 hectares of mixed uses and large infrastructures, Madrid Nuevo Norte has become the first major Spanish project to be provisionally certified in the new ‘BREEAM ES Urbanismo 2020’. Already in July of last year, the urban regeneration project of Madrid was the first to start the process of certification to qualify for this recognition.

From BREEAM Spain, its director, Javier Torralba, has assured that, after having passed “the rigorous examination” required by ‘BREEAM Urbanismo’ to obtain the provisional certificate, “Madrid Nuevo Norte is a worldwide reference in the application of the best practices of environmental respect, well-being of people and the promotion of the local economy”.

“Our evaluators have reviewed in detail the ecological, water and energy strategy, as well as other aspects related to governance or social and economic well-being, which will allow us to verify compliance with the key sustainability objectives promoted by the project during its subsequent execution,” explained Torralba.