Aegis Asset Management's Autoway Tower Achieves 'LEED Platinum' Certification

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] The Autoway Tower in Gangnam, Seoul (417 Yeongdong-daero, Gangnam-gu, Seoul) has been recognized as a world-class eco-friendly building.

Aegis Asset Management, which operates Autoway Tower, announced on the 18th that it has obtained the highest level of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, Platinum, from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).

LEED is an internationally recognized eco-friendly building certification system. The certification levels are ranked from highest to lowest as Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Certification.

The type of certification Autoway Tower received is the O+M (Operations and Maintenance) certification for existing buildings. It evaluates eco-friendly performance based on actual operational records such as energy, water, waste usage, and recycling status of the building.

Autoway Tower is one of the representative examples of eco-friendly buildings in urban areas. The building’s center features an open structure from the roof glass to the second basement floor to maximize natural lighting. The building’s exterior uses energy-saving curtain walls and eco-friendly insulation materials to reduce heating and cooling energy consumption. In particular, it tracks and manages energy usage in real time through a web-based energy diagnosis service (Soft-BEMS) and self-produces electricity with a solar power facility of 65 kW capacity.

Additionally, to obtain LEED certification, fossil fuel equipment within the facility was replaced with manual and electric devices. Furthermore, in addition to existing water-saving measures such as water-saving campaigns and water reuse, metering by usage type was newly installed to track and manage the building’s water consumption.

Autoway Tower is the second case in Korea to receive the LEED latest version v4.0 O+M Platinum certification, following Seoul Square. The Teachers’ Pension Fund is the sole investor in the fund owning Autoway Tower, making it the only institutional investor holding 100% equity in a domestic LEED v4.0 O+M Platinum asset.

Aegis Asset Management has been steadily increasing eco-friendly buildings through collaboration with institutional investors. To date, it has acquired 16 LEED certifications for assets under management. Notably, this year, in addition to Autoway Tower, Namsan Square, V-Flex, and Arenas Yangji also secured LEED O+M Gold certifications.

Moreover, Aegis Asset Management has remodeled its office building to provide a comfortable and ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance)-compliant work environment. As a result, the remodeled 13th floor of the Sewoo Building received LEED ID+C Gold certification in February. The 2nd floor of the Sewoo Building, recently remodeled, is also undergoing LEED certification procedures.

Lee Gyu-sung, Head of Management Support at Aegis Asset Management, said, “Increasing eco-friendly buildings in urban areas is essential for a sustainable society,” and added, “We will strive to lead ESG management under the principle that ‘action precedes declaration.’”