Carlos Avila
María Arzate
Alexandra Coello
Catalina Orozco
Santiago Martinez
Universidad de Monterrey
Consuelo Garcia-de-la-torre
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The innovation of this company comes from its creation in 2001 when dealing with a very rare topic in those years in Mexico such as sustainable architecture. The search for a balance between economic, environmental and social well-being, both in the construction and operation of a building, is a factor that makes the difference and highlights the innovation of BEA.
In addition, the commitment to innovate and improve can be related to the commitments, mission and purpose of BEA. On their official website, they establish their mission as “Provide differentiated professional consulting services in sustainable building, transforming the market through applied technological innovation, a multidisciplinary team, highly qualified and with a global approach”; with a vision of being a world leader in the consulting of sustainable real estate developments; through values such as commitment, quality, service, integral development, and a transformative spirit.
In 2007, BEA opens its way to its first important project, which was the HSBC office tower located in the Mexico City roundabout and which obtained the first LEED gold level certification in Latin America. This first accreditation was an example of innovation that changed the perception about creating sustainable buildings. Although the HSBC offices were a very tall and large building, it was able to obtain a high level of certification in LEED, changing the standards that were faced with sustainability that were not accredited at that time in Mexico. In addition to this, BEA's offices have double LEED certification in its platinum level, which makes the interior environment more comfortable for its occupants at the same time that takes care of the environment by the use of renewable energies to generate the electricity used in the building.
The certifications that BEA helps to achieve, generate a positive impact in the social, economic and environmental area of sustainability, which helps the buildings to be more eco-friendly.
The company did not always have the objective of being a building certification consultancy, since at the time of its creation, the engineer Ulises Treviño, director of BEA, had the idea that the company would be an intermediary for the purchase and sale of eco-technologies for construction. It wasn't until 2007 that the company began to change and started to provide advice through the aforementioned certification methodologies. According to Enrique, this was when "the director began to understand the necessity of the society to know more about the impact that our actions have in the environment." Therefore, BEA changed its mission and started to seek being the first Latin American consultancy that helps people in the construction of their sustainable buildings or constructions which can be certified, all within a certain budget and creating a positive impact on the environment.
LEED has several levels of certification, among them is platinum, silver and gold. This will depend on the budget that the company has to invest in the application of the requirements that each level establish, but in all levels the positive impact will be manifested in the return on investment to recover and already begin to have profits. This is due to the use of renewable energies, the reuse of materials for the construction, the efficient use of water, etc. that reduce the expense of the company in these services at a long term. But having an eco-building not only helps in the economic and environmental area, because all of these environmental friendly actions impact directly the social development within the company. The employees will feel more comfortable in an improved environment (compared to conventional practices) and would enjoy more their hours of work, creating a positive environment in the building at the same time that productivity and efficiency increase.
The BEA company itself presents two LEED platinum certification. And because of this, the improvement in the environmental aspects of the building helps also in the improving of the workers' and employees' performance, resulting in a direct economic benefit for the company, since the work will come out faster and with better quality. The materials that were used for its construction, such as renewable source technologies that they present inside the building, contribute in the making of a pleasant environment, with good light, good air circulation and a pleasant visual space to work. Also, the appliance of this certification in its own building, has helped BEA in the promotion of the positive impact that these actions have in housing or work spaces, raising awareness of humans' role in caring for the environment, which results in more companies interested in the construction of eco-buildings.
The welfare of the occupants of the building is directly related to the efficiency strategies that are implemented within it. In this way, by contributing in the cleaning of air and water, besides taking in consideration other factors such as the obtaining of energy from renewable sources and reusing materials in the construction of floors and walls; a more comfortable space to work is also being generated, which results in an improvement of occupants' performance that increases the general performance of the company, as explained in the previous point.
Thus, in a long term these environmental friendly constructions help in the strengthening of the human-environment relationship, by using in a moderate way the resources that nature provides in order to improve the comfort for humans in their work space.
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BEA is a consulting company with 18 years of experience that is responsible for advising private and government companies to create residential buildings so that they are friendly to the environment, and also, to maximize results with fewer resources possible. The main point that works in these buildings is the efficiency present in all the resources that are used, through international certifications such as LEED, Earth Check, Edge, among others. The main methodology they use is the LEED certification, which any building can obtain in any of its 4 levels: certification, silver, gold and platinum. As the level increases, the greater the requirements that must be taken into account to adapt a building to sustainability.
