Built in 1968, “Castalia Toritsudaigaku” is located in a popular residential area. Both the interior and exterior had become somewhat dilapidated, and its earthquake performance was designed according to the old standards. Most of the rooms were Japanese-style rooms as well, so they did not necessarily meet the needs of the tenants. Accordingly, in 2005, the floor plans were modified using the refinement method. Seismic retrofitting work was performed while leaving the existing frame in place, and the piping and housing equipment were completely replaced, making them more convenient and easy to use. With a bold and daring external design, the building was reborn as a rental property suited to modern lifestyles.

Daiwa House, the sponsor, has been promoting efforts to increase the percentage of its in-house developed properties with Green Building certification to 80% or higher in order to reduce their environmental impact. Progress is checked quarterly to improve these efforts. In particular, Daiwa House is enhancing its environmental efforts at large-scale properties by acquiring BELS and other certifications, primarily for logistics facilities that account for a large percentage of in-house developed properties.

Capitalizing on its status as a diversified REIT, DHR also owns multi-use properties. DHR believes multi-use properties help to reduce environmental burden and contribute to revitalizing neighborhoods and communities through such means as reducing travel distances between workplaces, shopping and other popular destinations.

At the large-scale residential property, “Royal Parks Hanakoganei,” DHR replaced the underutilized mechanical parking lot with a flat parking lot capable of accommodating electric vehicles. In addition to reducing maintenance costs, this also reduced energy consumption, including the electricity used by the mechanical parking system when loading and unloading vehicles and the gasoline used by idling vehicles. Moreover, the installation of charging stands for electric vehicles, the future spread of which is expected, contributes to convenience for tenants.

The large-scale commercial complex “iias Tsukuba” was selected as an exceptional example in the “Commercial Facilities and Accommodations Category” of the “Energy-Efficient Lighting Design Awards 2012,” sponsored by the Ministry of the Environmen, due to the work they underwent to change to LED lighting after opening in October 2008.

Switching to LED lighting for everything from the hallways and indoor parking lot to outdoor signs, work areas other than the sales floor, and the restrooms reduced power consumption by around 68% compared to the old fluorescent lighting. Compared to fluorescent and incandescent lighting, LED lighting gives off less heat, helping to suppress rising room temperatures, which also contributes to saving energy on air conditioning.
Furthermore, consideration is also given to the maintenance aspect by using the suitable LED lights in each place, such as adopting long-lasting kinds of LED lights in outdoor signs installed on the top of the buildings where changing lights is difficult.

Warm white lights are used for indoor lighting to produce a warm and relaxed atmosphere.Furthermore, our lighting design realizes energy conservation while ensuring brightness and safety by reconsidering illuminance levels for interior walkways and giving consideration to light leakage from shops and shop sign illumination.
These lighting designs create pleasant shopping spaces while making each shop’s display stand out. As a result, they provide a high level of satisfaction not only for customers but also for each shop.

Sponsored by the Ministry of the Environment, this award aims to spread “new energy-efficient lighting designs” that create attractive spaces while achieving excellent energy saving results, and to contribute to limiting peak demand of power consumption.The evaluation covers: (1) the results of installing energy saving lighting; (2) design, innovation, creativity, and comfort; (3) reproducibility, ability to contribute to the region, and autonomy as a model and (4) practicality, economic efficiency, etc.Furthermore, installation of solar power generation facilities and wall greening took place at this property.Going forward, DHR is promoting acquisition of environment-friendly properties.

DHR installs solar power generation systems as well as hybrid solar and wind power generation systems in addition to adopting ice storage air-conditioning systems that utilize midnight power.

Daiwa House, the sponsor, was the first* in the logistics developer industry to introduce an online system for truck drivers and transportation companies to reserve truck berths at all its logistics facilities. This made it easier for tenant companies in the logistics facilities developed by Daiwa House to make plans for in-facility work and movement of goods, improved the operational efficiency of the facilities, and reduced the environmental impact by shortening truck waiting time of trucks. We provide new services to our tenant shippers at our logistics facilities that incorporate the state-of-the-art technology.

*Daiwa House survey