DS Flexhal Is the First New-build Project to Achieve BREEAM Excellent

ADP WND Prinsessens Kvarter is Denmark’s first new-build development to achieve BREEAM Excellent certification. The certification is the result of close collaboration and a focused effort to document the many sustainability initiatives.

As the first new-build development in Denmark, ADP WND Prinsessens Kvarter has just been awarded BREEAM Excellent certification. The development was completed in March 2024, and the official recognition has now been secured following more than a year of documentation, reporting and collaboration between the parties involved.

“I am incredibly proud that we at DS Flexhal have achieved Denmark’s first BREEAM Excellent certification for a new-build development. The certification could not have become a reality without the employees who worked tirelessly on the project to find solutions and document the process. I am also extremely impressed by them,” says Anette Storm, CEO of DS Flexhal.

The certification was celebrated on Thursday, 19 June 2025, with an official presentation of the certificate to Taulov Dry Port and A.P. Møller Mærsk, which uses the building on a daily basis.

The First in Denmark

Greenbook Live, the official register of BREEAM-certified buildings, shows that ADP WND Prinsessens Kvarter is the first newly constructed development in Denmark to achieve BREEAM Excellent certification. This makes the project an important milestone for both DS Flexhal and the Danish construction industry.

“It is fantastic to receive the certification! After all, we are the first. And as far as I remember, it is also the first logistics development in Denmark to achieve BREEAM Excellent certification,” says Saúl Dédez Lozano, project manager specialising in sustainability at DS Flexhal.

The certification process required considerable effort both during and after construction. In particular, the reporting to BRE in England was extensive, involving three rounds of correspondence and around 400 documents being submitted.

The project involved biologists, engineers and several companies within DS Gruppen. Even before construction began, the natural environment on the site was assessed, and measures were taken to protect biodiversity, including preserving specific trees, establishing a wildflower meadow and installing bird boxes.

Solar panels on parts of the roof and analyses of operational energy consumption also form part of the documentation. BRE extracts these data from the report for use in its ongoing work to set thresholds in future updates to its manuals.

Collaboration Has Been Essential

The collaboration on the ambitious sustainability targets has been a partnership in which the combination of knowledge, experience and methodological approaches between the DS Flexhal project team and Ramboll’s BREEAM assessor and technical specialists in Denmark and England has created synergies. This combination of expertise ensures a high level of experience and the necessary alignment between the international BREEAM certification standard and Danish conditions, legislation, standards, construction methods, etc. This has been crucial to ensuring a smooth process and confidence in achieving certification.

“It has been incredibly exciting to oversee sustainability management as the BREEAM Assessor/AP and to follow the project from its initial stages through to the completed building – and, not least, to ensure that Denmark’s first BREEAM Excellent-certified building was achieved,” says Trine Bindslev Tree, Senior Sustainability Consultant, Ramboll Buildings.

For the developer, certification has been important from the very moment the idea for the building was conceived:

“At Taulov Dry Port, we have chosen to certify all our buildings. It is essential both for our customers and for us, as the users of the buildings benefit from improved comfort and lower operating costs. Society benefits from a reduced climate impact and lower resource consumption, while we, as owners, increase the market value of the buildings. Certification also provides access to green financing for the construction projects,” says Jesper Gemmer, CEO of Taulov Dry Port.

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Flemming Hvidberg Madsen