The Rex shortlisted for RESI retrofit award

Amro’s sustainability strategy continues to earn accolades across the industry

Our flagship co-living development in Kingston, The Rex, has been shortlisted for ‘Best Residential Retrofit’ at this year’s Property Week RESI Awards, adding to growing recognition for our sustainability strategy across the UK and Europe.

Now fully built and occupied, The Rex has delivered a 59% reduction in total CO₂ emissions, significantly outperforming current regulatory standards. Upfront emissions are recorded at 475 kgCO₂e/m² GIA, representing a reduction of approximately 917 tonnes of CO₂e – almost 19% lower than the original design stage.

During the construction phase, opportunities for reducing operational energy and associated emissions were reviewed on a fortnightly basis with the main contractor and involving the wider technical team, including the MEP engineers, the PassiveHouse specialist, the energy specialist, and the architectural team. This process ensured that all PassiveHouse principles were reviewed in detail, with coordinated strategies for ensuring prompt actions and in line with the delivery of the relevant packages on site.

Granular monitoring of embodied carbon emissions was undertaken with the calculation of updated emissions upon completion of relevant packages according with the construction programme. This included the review of specifications and assumptions made at the design stage for the structural elements and the calculation of actual quantities and specifications, and associated emissions upon completion of all structural interventions.

This interim analysis provided prompt visibility of upfront and embodied carbon emissions, allowing the team to understand the impact of different products used for the buildings, but also feedback to the supply chain about the sustainability value of different suppliers.

This process helped in securing significant carbon emissions from structural elements, particularly the upper floors (approx. 55% reduction, from 168 kgCO2e/m2 GIA to 75 kgCO2e/m2 GIA), substructure (over 40% reduction, from 82 kgCO2e/m2 GIA to 49 kgCO2e/m2) and frame (approximately 18% reduction, from 50 kgCO2e/m2 GIA to 41kgCO2e/m2 GIA).

The building is provided with meters and submeters able to collect granular data at room level and provide information on heating, temperature, energy and water consumption, lighting levels, humidity and sound. Operational emissions are also monitored via a fully integrated BMS system and Amro data-centric emissions-intelligent tools, which will monitor operational performance, compare it against weekly, monthly and annual benchmarks, and identify anomalies, consumption trends and management actions.

Weekly and monthly insight reports will automatically collect actual performance data, compare it against seasonal targets, account for occupancy and temperature factors, and provide highlights to asset managers who will take action to further optimise the building's performance.

Data will also be used to generate automated and consistent ESG reports, including the automatic analysis of the annual performance against the CRREM pathways for both GHG emissions and energy use intensity.

The performance of the building as calculated at post-construction stage shows full alignment to the CRREM1.5oC degree for both pathways, achieving 7.69 kgCO2/m2 and 66 kWh/m2 yr for the current year for the GHG and EUI intensity pathways respectively. The weekly and monthly reports will help understand how the building performs in reality and make prompt adjustments to ensure that annual data remains consistent.

The Amro data analytical tools integrate the CRREM methodology and provide full visibility on the performance of the building across all its various stages, from theoretical values, to post-construction values and then to operation.

Our data-led approach

Amro takes a strict data-led approach to sustainability, embracing new technology to inform better decision-making throughout our business.

In 2023 we developed proprietary in-house technology to assess, optimise and automatically reduce emissions across our Living portfolio, enabling us to track performance in real time, identify where improvements can be made and ensure our ESG strategy delivers measurable results.

Head of Sustainability & ESG, Elisabetta Li Destri Nicosia, explains: “We made a conscious decision to be a data-driven business, developing our own in-house tech platforms to drive emissions down across our portfolio. It means everyone, from facility managers to development teams, can access the data they need and use it to inform everyday decisions.”

Industry recognition

The RESI Award shortlist builds on a number of sustainability accolades across Amro’s portfolio.
In Iberia, we won The Class Foundation’s Best Sustainable Student Property Award in 2024 for Amro Porto, having previously won in 2022 for Amro Seville and been shortlisted in 2023 for Amro Pamplona.

In the UK, we won the Sustainability Award at the 2023 BTR Awards and were shortlisted for both an Unlock Net Zero Award and an EG Sustainability Award. Our co-founder and Group President Ami Kotecha was also named ‘One to Watch’ by International Hospitality Media as an influential leader “at the intersection of tech and sustainability” – a recognition that reflects our integrated approach to digital innovation and ESG.

Watch out for updates on our Charlottenburg project in Berlin, where we are targeting DGNB Platinum and will also meet the KfW40 standard, which requires exceptionally low primary energy demand and industry-leading levels of insulation and airtightness.

Find out more about our sustainability strategy here.