How BPI Real Estate reduced carbon by 31% and earned Europe's first LCBI Excellence certification

Building for sustainability

BPI Real Estate is a leading developer operating across Luxembourg, Belgium, and Poland in residential, commercial, office, and service sectors. A part of the Belgian industrial group CFE, BPI has spent over 30 years creating forward-looking spaces aligned with the highest environmental standards.

In collaboration with Belgian-owned Unibra Real Estate, BPI co-developed the ROOTS project — a flagship effort aimed at combining sustainability, quality, and comfort. The team adopted the LCBI framework at the design stage from the start, which provided shared goals and a structured methodology for achieving low-carbon outcomes throughout every project phase.

The ROOTS project is the first LCBI-certified building in Luxembourg, and the first in Europe to reach the Excellence-level of performance.

 — Cécile Dap, CEO of LCBI

LCBI: A framework for decarbonizing real estate in Europe

To accelerate real estate decarbonization in Europe, One Click LCA has partnered with Low Carbon Building Initiative (LCBI), which offers a methodology and certification scheme for measuring the carbon footprint of buildings based on key European standards and benchmarks with the aim of standardizing life-cycle analysis across the region. 

The new LCBI tool on the One Click LCA Platform allows real estate professionals to measure, manage, and reduce carbon emissions throughout a building's life cycle, meeting EN 15804 +A1 and +A2 standards. In particular, LCBI evaluates three core carbon metrics: 

• Embodied carbon: emissions over 50 years from materials and construction
• Operational carbon: emissions based on building energy consumption and sources
• Biogenic carbon: carbon stored in bio-based materials, such as wood, bamboo, and other materials

The tool also helps users quickly evaluate their certification potential, making the scheme more accessible across the industry.

ROOTS: A low-carbon landmark

Located in southern Luxembourg — in the heart of the Belval district — ROOTS is a mixed-use complex spanning nearly 20,000 m2 and featuring apartments, office spaces, retail areas, and a garden. Every design and material decision was carefully weighed to meet carbon targets in close collaboration with all project partners.

"Collaborating effectively between various stakeholders was the most important aspect of the ROOTS project," said Frédéric Vingtans, Design Director of BPI Real Estate Luxembourg. "One Click LCA's LCBI tool enabled seamless collaboration from the outset by ensuring that data and objectives were transparently shared at every stage, allowing all stakeholders to interact with it and stay aligned from the start."

Compared to a typical concrete-based building in Luxembourg, the ROOT project achieved a 31% carbon reduction (Module A) — a significant benchmark given current national construction standards.

We’ve been using One Click LCA for several years now. As developers — not an engineering office — we quickly realized how critical it is to be in control of our environmental impact. Alongside stakeholders, the tool has given us early-stage visibility, a deeper understanding of what’s being measured and how to intervene on different parameters. It’s been very beneficial to our strategy, giving us access to reliable data and enabling meaningful collaboration with our stakeholders.

—Frédéric Vingtans, Design Director of BPI Real Estate Luxembourg

Design strategies that delivered

Carbon accounting was embedded into every design phase of ROOTS with the help of One Click LCA's LCBI Tool. This approach enabled the ROOTS team to translate high-level carbon goals into concrete quotas for different buildings and structural elements. Crucially, the approach remained flexible, allowing project managers, engineers, designers, and contractors to propose alternatives while staying aligned with the overall carbon targets.

One Click LCA enabled us to see things for ourselves and maintain ongoing dialogue with Frédéric and other stakeholders, helping us stay aware of the items impacting our balance sheet — and to take action.

— Sarah Philipps, Project Engineer of Energie et Environnement

Embodied carbon: Low-carbon materials with measurable results

Throughout each stage, all partners in the ROOTS project were committed to using low-carbon materials thoughtfully and efficiently, which led to achieving an LCBI embodied carbon value of 755 kgCO2e/m². — measured on the full scope of building parts and components, including the embodied carbon of frame and shell, site and external, partitions and finishes, as well as technical and services.

Key strategies included:

• Superstructure primarily made of timber elements, sourced from sustainably managed and PEFC-certified forests
• Built on a former industrial site with poor soil quality, the initial foundation system was optimized by using fewer concrete piles and low-carbon concrete 
• Used recycled materials like aluminum window frames
• Thoughtful facade design, external sunshades with EPDs, and glazing surfaces adapted to needs

The embodied carbon reductions during construction equate to nearly 35 years of the ROOTS complex’s operational carbon emissions.

Operational carbon: Innovative systems, high efficiency

ROOTS achieved an operational carbon footprint of just 7 kgCO₂e/m²/yr, thanks to:

• High-efficiency insulation and cutting-edge energy production systems
• Connection to the district heating network
• Renewable energy sources, such as the rooftop photovoltaic installation

Biogenic carbon

ROOTS stores significant amounts of biogenic carbon through the use of PEFC-certified timber. The project reached an LCBI biogenic carbon storage indicator of 159 kgCO₂e/m², equivalent to the carbon captured by a 22-hectare forest over 30 years.

Conclusion: A Blueprint for Low-Carbon Urban Development

ROOTS is a pioneering example of how to design and deliver low-carbon real estate — through strong strategic choices starting at the design phase, detailed carbon impact analyses to guide decisions, and continuous optimization via committed collaboration. 

By leveraging the One Click LCA's LCBI Tool, BPI Real Estate translated ambitious sustainability goals into measurable, certified outcomes — setting a new benchmark for European developers. As a result, ROOTS was awarded the LCBI Excellence-level label at the design stage, following validation by Bureau Veritas. The next step will be to assess the project's carbon performance at the delivery stage.