Environmental Risk Advice & Investigations

All real estate - commercial and industrial buildings even more so than residential - has a relationship with the environment throughout its life cycle. The increasing awareness of ecological interrelationships has made environmental protection more important and legislation more extensive. Technical and legal environmental issues already play a major role when selecting a property, and follow it from the planning stage to the end of its useful life.

One of CBRE’s unique strengths is our ability to navigate successfully through the conflicting priorities of tenants, operators and owners so as to provide the necessary environmental services. Our specialist experts assess risks and anticipated costs so that the appropriate steps can be taken to minimise them.

Before purchasing a property: environmental due diligence

The services on offer include environmental due diligence in the context of purchases and sales. During this process, CBRE conducts an environmental site assessment, using environmental criteria to examine and assess the property (emissions, hazardous substances, water supply and waste water, deleterious building materials, contamination, radon, earthquakes, flooding, etc.). Portfolio due diligence involves sifting through, examining and evaluating the environmental risks of a real estate portfolio. We prepare opinions on consultants’ reports in order to assess a property’s risks and costs.

Geological investigations - an overview of the subsoil

Anyone who buys a property needs to know about the land it stands on. Soil investigations are required for many commercial and industrial properties, especially when there is reason to suspect contamination on the land on which a property stands. But owners of other buildings also want to know about the condition and quality of the soil for technical and environmental reasons. We provide clarity in matters of development land, contamination, radon pollution and geothermal energy. 

Building inspections provide security

What a building is worth depends on how it was built, among other things. We examine existing properties for deleterious building materials, and ensure that environmentally compatible or certified ecological building materials are used in new buildings and renovation projects. Our range of services in the fields of environment and health also extends to advising on matters of occupational health and safety.

Would you like to learn more? Please do not hesitate to contact our environmental experts who will be happy to answer any further questions you may have.