RLC Residences Senior Vice President and Business Unit General Manager John Richard Sotelo (left) with International Finance Corporation Country Lead (Climate Business) for the Philippines, Malaysia, and the Pacific Angelo Tan at the ceremonial contract signing during the 2nd Climate Forum
Makati City, Philippines – RLC Residences recently forged a groundbreaking agreement with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), committing one million square meters (GFA) of net zero carbon and resilient condominiums by 2031.
The pledge was spearheaded by RLC Residences Senior Vice President and Business Unit General Manager Chad Sotelo during IFC’s 2nd Climate Forum at Ayala Museum. Sotelo was joined by Angelo Tan, Country Lead for IFC World Bank Group’s Climate Business in the Philippines, Malaysia and the Pacific. The partnership will focus on identifying, evaluating, and implementing green building measures to help achieve net zero carbon using Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies (EDGE) certification from IFC Additionally, they will assess and verify the resilience rating of RLC Residences projects to be built moving forward through IFC’s Building Resilience Index (BRI) tool.
“We started this journey on sustainability back in 2022 and we’re happy to have known enough to get our first building, Le Pont Residences in Bridgetowne [Destination Estate], to be EDGE-certified. With this fantastic partnership we have with IFC, we’re learning that there’s a lot of work involved but at the same time, it’s part and parcel of what we do on a day-to-day basis. We are thankful to IFC for helping us understand sustainability and resilience better and how we can improve our residential projects with that in mind,” shared Sotelo during the Forum.
As the residential division of the property giant Robinsons Land Corporation, which is also active in sustainability efforts on a corporate level, RLC Residences is now taking a proactive stance on designing developments that are efficiently built. Despite being a newcomer in sustainable residential developments, RLC Residences got its first preliminary EDGE Certification for Le Pont Residences Tower 1 at Bridgetowne East in Pasig City, recognizing its energy and water efficiency measures and sustainability features for future homeowners.
“RLC Residences’ commitment to green and resilient initiatives is commendable and a vital step towards a sustainable future. Achieving EDGE Preliminary Certification for Le Pont Residences reflects a forward-thinking approach that benefits the environment and the local community.” Says Ommid Saberi, IFC’s Global Lead for EDGE and Building Resilience Index. “IFC will also be supporting the resilient assessment of its projects. As a hot spot for disasters, it is crucial to explore how the Philippines can incorporate climate resilience practices into the design and construction of buildings.”
Developed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, EDGE (Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies), is a free software and green building standard and certification system. The prestigious certification aims to empower developers to build sustainable properties through cost-effective and environment-friendly means while delivering high-quality buildings.
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About RLC Residences
For three decades, Robinsons Land Corporation’s Residential Division has been committed to improving the lives of Filipinos. Vital to its success is its understanding of and responsiveness to emerging residential trends like urbanisation, digital lifestyles and work-life imbalance.
RLC presents RLC Residences, a new brand that every modern family and young urban professional will be proud of. This brand integrates Robinsons Luxuria, Robinsons Residences and Robinsons Communities into a singular brand. With the merging of resources and a simplified structure in place, RLC Residences is more empowered to deliver a seamless customer journey for its clients. Equally, RLC Residences has redefined its core product offering encapsulated into its tagline ‘Raise, Live, Connect’.
‘Raise’ is about helping homeowners raise their game by providing beautiful and well-designed living spaces. RLC Residences ensures this exciting possibility by partnering with world-class designers to bring to life developments with iconic features such as grand lobbies and home spaces with high ceilings equipped with upgraded deliverables.
RLC Residences strives to continuously empower its homeowners to ‘Live’ and design their best life by integrating their lifestyles in every corner of the development. All its projects have above-standard amenities – both in size and variety – for wellness, growth, and recreation. Coming from the evolving home and work trends, units are also designed to work-from-home spaces with efficient storage systems to make home life more convenient.
More than anything, everyone values connection to people and places that matter. This is what ‘Connect’ stands for, that’s why RLC Residences developments are located in strategic areas, where transport hubs, major roads, and essential destinations are easily within reach. These properties are also equipped with smart home features and digital service platforms so they can easily manage their day-to-day living. All these translate to being at the center of opportunities so they can achieve their goals in life.
RLC Residences embraces the future with much optimism. It brings with it experience and credibility in delivering an impressive and growing portfolio of projects over the last 30 years and its redefined purpose of building beautiful and well-designed residential projects that all of its stakeholders will be proud of.
About EDGE
An innovation of IFC, EDGE helps property developers to build and brand green in a fast, easy and affordable way. EDGE is supported by free software that encourages solutions to reduce energy, water and the energy used to make building materials by at least 20 percent, which is the standard for EDGE certification. The program has been generously supported by the following donors: Austria, Canada, Denmark, ESMAP, EU, Finland, GEF, Hungary, Japan, Switzerland and the UK. For more information, visit: www.edgebuildings.com
About BRI
An innovation of IFC, Building Resilience Index is a web-based hazard mapping and resilience assessment framework for the building sector that makes it possible to assess, improve, and disclose the resilience of buildings. Developed by IFC’s Climate Business Department, under the World Bank Group’s Action Plan on Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience of 2019. BRI provides a rating tool for private sector action in climate adaptation in building sector, thus complements EDGE Green Building Certification platform focused on climate change mitigation. For more, information, visit: www.resilienceindex.org