sintali-web-logo-black-1sintali-web-logo-black-1sintali-web-logo-black-1sintali-web-logo-black-1
  • About Sintali
    • About Us
    • Careers
    • Our Services
    • Our Partners
    • Sustainability
  • EDGE Certification
      • EDGE
      • About EDGE
      • Our Approach
      • Zero Carbon Portfolio
      • Pricing
      • Technical Queries
      • Expedited Reviews
      • Get a Quote
      • EDGE Training
      • EDGE Experts Training
      • Book Training
      • Request Training
      • Resources
      • Case Studies
      • FAQs
      • List of Banks
  • Green Finance
  • Training program
    • EDGE Experts Training
    • Book Training
    • Request Training
  • Resources
    • Blog
    • News
    • Webinars
CONTACT US

Case Study: San Francisco Eco Residential

Published by Sintali on May 31, 2022
Categories
  • Uncategorized
Tags



Grupo Casillas certified 359 homes with EDGE. They wanted to build homes that would improve the quality of life for their tenants, whilst also reducing their impact on the environment.


Project Name San Francisco Eco Residential
Location Guadalajara, Mexico
Building Type Residential
Homes Certified 359 units
Total Floor Area Certified 27702 m²
Certification Date March 2022
Duration of Certification 10 months from registration to completion


Project Overview

Grupo Casillas is a leading residential developer in Guadalajara, Mexico. For the last twenty years, the company has had a strong focus on sustainability and the environment, becoming pioneers in the use of eco-technologies within the construction sector. According to the Grupo Casillas mindset, families are guaranteed a better quality of life in an environment of coexistence and sustainability.

The company operates on the idea that to make a home truly accessible, it needs to be designed in a way that would require minimal maintenance. This means focusing on the materials and design to create something that wouldn’t require the homeowner to make big changes to it regularly, such as designing projects with brick instead of paint so there wasn’t an added cost of re-painting homes. This is just one of many design principles that went into the San Francisco development.  

The San Francisco project began four years ago, when the local municipality required the project to include an on-site water treatment plant. This requirement initiated an exploration into what types of water recycling systems and efficiency measures could be put into the development. After reviewing several options, the company decided to invest in a greywater system that could feed treated water into the parks and green spaces of the development.

Following this challenge, the San Francisco team came across a second hurdle: height. The development is located near the Parish of the Lord of the Ascension temple. Due to the conservation efforts, all developments nearby need to adhere to a certain height restriction. As a result, part of the San Francisco development included houses, instead of apartments. Using this as an opportunity for innovation, Grupo Casillas decided to make these units fully electric.

All housing units in the residential development include water solar heating, but the homes also had solar panels installed to allow the householders to benefit from as much renewable electricity as possible, thus reducing householder’s energy costs.

All of these efficiency improvements highlight Grupo Casillas’ commitment to a sustainable future and how it’s possible to combine environmental protection with high quality housing for residents in Mexico.

Why EDGE?

What is interesting about this story is that Grupo Casillas had considered many of these efficiency measures before making the decision to go for certification. In fact, up until the San Francisco project, the company had never certified a development against a green building standard.

The driving force for green certified homes tends to be customer led. For Grupo Casillas, the typical buyer of these homes and apartments is a median income household, aged 30 to 45 years old. While these buyers may consider the environment in decision making, it isn’t a driving force.

Yet for Grupo Casillas, independently verifying their commitment to sustainability was an important marker for their company’s achievements. They wanted to show their customers and stakeholders that they are sustainable and have been for many years. To do this, they decided to invest in certification.

They chose EDGE certification as a system that is internationally recognised, and well recognised within the financial sector. It gave Grupo Casillas clear data that could be communicated to the end customer and aligned well with their mindset of providing value to their customers and helping to drive down their utility costs and delivering a high-quality product.

As they were new to the green building certification scheme, they decided to work with a local EDGE Expert company, Civita. Civita has over 15 years of experience in certifying green buildings, with over 74 certified projects across Mexico. As EDGE Experts, the Civita team were able to advise Grupo Casillas on how to go about the EDGE certification process, what type of documentation was required and to help build the EDGE assessment and run through the steps required to achieve certification.

“Grupo Casillas are committed even more now as housing developers to continue seeking the certification of future projects that help mitigate greenhouse gas production, climate change and global warming to comply with the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030.

One thing we took away from the process was that it is very helpful as project owners to get involved in the physical audit process as it is a great learning opportunity. You watch the review processes and learn about the measurements of the reported green technologies to see how the criteria we selected are assessed.”

Pablo Pérez Casillas, Director of architectural design and sustainability, Grupo Casillas

What’s Next?

Grupo Casillas has another project under the EDGE certification process, which it hopes to complete in the next 36 months. The goal is to evaluate each future development and identify where EDGE certification makes sense. For certain sizes, it is likely that EDGE certification will not be compatible. However, the integration of green building certification is now part of the company’s ethos and through using the EDGE App, they can check that designs align with sustainability principles and provide the independent validation where appropriate.

The EDGE certification will play an important role for the company’s green financing plans. Grupo Casillas has been working with BBVA on financing and will be looking to integrate the EDGE certification as assurance for a green loan product in the near future.


Share
0
Sintali
Sintali
Sintali is an environmental certification body, which was founded to verify the impact of the built environment around the world. Sintali acts as a global certification partner for IFC’s EDGE green building program, transforming the built environment and creating a pathway to ensure that every building on this planet is green.

Related posts

December 7, 2022

Case Study: Aga Khan Academy, Bangladesh


Read more
December 1, 2022

Case Study: Tata Realty Portfolio


Read more
September 9, 2022

Case Study: Prime Kapital Portfolio


Read more


Recent News

  • ProCredit bank Kosovo – the first institution in Kosovo to achieve EDGE Advanced Certification for its Head Office Building
  • Green Building: A portfolio approach
  • Sintali Co-Founder named one of 2023’s most inspiring female entrepreneurs
  • Sintali brings you a Year in Review
  • Sintali partners with consulting company Zero Energy Building to accelerate the uptake of EDGE in Greece

Blog Archive

  • March 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • July 2020

Categories

  • Blog
  • Events
  • Knowledge Hub
  • News
  • Uncategorized
CONTACT US

Sintali Limited
Cardinal Point Park Road
Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire
WD3 1RE, United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)204 5342514

sales@sintali.com
STAY CONNECTED

Follow us on social media and get updates in real time


JOIN THE COMMUNITY

Stay up to date with the latest from Sintali

© 2022 Sintali Limited
Website design by Create + Deploy
  • Home
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Cookie settingsACCEPT ALL
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.

CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement1 yearThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Advertisement".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.

Functional

Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.

Performance

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

Analytics

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

CookieDurationDescription
_ga2 yearsThis cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to calculate visitor, session, campaign data and keep track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookies store information anonymously and assign a randomly generated number to identify unique visitors.
_gid1 dayThis cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to store information of how visitors use a website and helps in creating an analytics report of how the website is doing. The data collected including the number visitors, the source where they have come from, and the pages visted in an anonymous form.

Advertisement

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.

Others

Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.

CookieDurationDescription
_gat_gtag_UA_176578450_11 minuteNo description
asp_transient_idsessionNo description

SAVE & ACCEPT
Powered by CookieYes Logo