WITH a mission to deliver quality products and services, real estate developer CapitaLand shines once again at this year's Building and Construction Authority's BCA Green Mark for Buildings awards.

Clinching gold awards for six projects - Sembawang Shopping Centre; The Integrated Civil, Cultural, Retail & Entertainment Hub @ Vista Xchange; Six Battery Road; The Wharf Residence; Capital Tower and One George Street - CapitaLand's tally of green mark awards since the scheme was launched in 2005 has reached 26.

Features in these buildings that played a part in receiving the gold awards included water efficient fittings, solar panels and the use of sky gardens.

At Sembawang Shopping Centre for example, a solar photovoltaic system installed on the mall's roof stores electricity and reduces the building's electricity consumption.

Besides achieving multiple awards under the Green Mark scheme, CapitaLand has also received numerous other certifications by various bodies such as the Singapore Environment Council which awarded the developer with Singapore's 'Green Oscar' - the Singapore Environmental Achievement Award - for 2007/08 at the Singapore Green Summit. The group was the only achiever of the award in 2008.

Overseas, CapitaLand obtained a Gold Level Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Core & Shell (LEED-CS) Precertification for Raffles City Chengdu, an integrated development under construction in China.

The certification was presented by the US Green Building Council, a rating agency for sustainable building and construction.

'Going green is a natural extension of CapitaLand's credo of 'Building for People to Build People' as our green efforts will benefit our generation as well as future generations,' explained the company's spokesman.

With an impressive list of awards and accolades, it is no wonder that the company was included in the Sustainability Yearbook 2009, one of the world's most comprehensive publications of corporate sustainability.

CapitaLand was identified as a sustainability leader in the real estate sector and is the only Singapore company in this year's ranking.

Since 2006, the company pledged its commitment to protect the environment for future generations by setting up a Green Committee to spearhead group-wide green initiatives in Singapore and overseas.

One of the initiatives by the Green Committee saw the establishment of an environment management systems (EMS) which advocates green best practices and covers the entire life cycle of a real estate project in the feasibility, design, procurement, construction and operation stages.

With a strong belief in the benefits of going green, CapitaLand has also an environmental tracking system (ETS) in place to monitor and improve the electricity and water usage, and waste generation of over 150 CapitaLand properties worldwide.

In 2008, CapitaLand reduced electricity and water consumption in Singapore, avoiding the equivalent of $1.9 million in utility costs.

According to the company's spokesman, the electricity saved by their green initiatives can power 15,800 five-room Housing and Development Board flats for one month, while the water saved can fill 41 Olympic-sized swimming pools.