NCC’s We Land awarded Finland’s first BREEAM Outstanding environmental certification for a new office building

We Land is the first newly built office building in Finland to receive the highest possible rating under the BREEAM environmental certification scheme: Outstanding. Achieving this five-star rating has required hundreds of carefully refined details across all areas of sustainability. Certification at this level is still rare in Finland.

At present, there are no other newly constructed office buildings in Finland that have achieved an Outstanding rating under the BREEAM New Construction assessment. While similar certifications have previously been awarded in Sweden and Norway, We Land differs from these by complying with the demanding criteria of the International programme.

“We Land is a frontrunner among office buildings, and hopefully we will see more projects like this in the future. However, achieving the Outstanding level is not easy. It requires an excellent location, innovative design, and a tremendous amount of work,” says Yirui Jiang, Head of NCC Property Development Finland.

BREEAM certification has been an established process and operating model for NCC’s property development projects for approximately fifteen years. However, previous projects have achieved the Excellent level, which is one star below Outstanding.

“We have had strong partners supporting our Outstanding ambition. The design phase plays a crucial role here. Reviewing hundreds of details has required extensive joint consideration, specialist expertise, and continuous, goal-oriented thinking. The commitment of We Land’s tenant companies to shared sustainability goals has also been highly significant,” Jiang continues.

We Land was designed by JKMM Architects, with Sweco acting as the BREEAM expert. The building’s largest tenants are Deloitte and Helen.

Choices supporting certification were made from the very beginning of the project. As evidence of this, We Land was awarded a BREEAM Outstanding rating already at the design stage in 2022. The final certification is always granted only after the building’s completion. We Land was completed in 2024. The building has been certified under the prestigious Fully Fitted scope, allowing the certification to be applied for once the tenant spaces had been completed.

“Maintaining such exceptional environmental performance from the very beginning to the end of a project is no easy task in a development of this length. Achieving the highest certification level has required close collaboration and strong commitment to a shared goal from the entire project team,” says Riina Ahola, Lead Expert and BREEAM Assessor at Sweco.