MILESTONE Porto Asprela – Europe’s Greenest Student Apartments

Vienna, 25 November 2020 – MILESTONE offers ultramodern residences tailored to the needs of students all over Europe, a fact now underlined by the sustainability certification received by MILESTONE Porto Asprela. “Adhering to sustainable standards in construction goes without saying for us, so we’re elated at this outstanding score and gold-level certification. Our sustainability efforts begin during a project’s planning phase and continue once the property has been put into operation,” says Gary Clarke, CEO of MILESTONE. Sebastian Gruber, Managing Director at Value One Development International, adds: “This gold-level LEED certification is an acknowledgement of the qualities that we aim for. In our projects, we assume responsibility for the community and the environment—and we’re happy that independent evaluation has confirmed this.”

First Gold-Level Certification in the “Hospitality” Category on the Iberian Peninsula

The building in Porto contains 220 apartments with their own kitchens and bathrooms as well as a broad array of shared infrastructure for student residents including a fitness studio and a laundry facility. As early as the planning phase, close attention was paid to technical details in order to ensure the greatest possible degree of sustainability. These measures resulted in a score of 62 points, the highest score in the “Hospitality” category ever awarded in Europe. “Sustainability is at the heart of Nuveen Real Estate’s investment approach, as we continue to integrate ESG into our portfolio to help create value for our clients in tomorrow’s world. Achieving such a landmark LEED certification result for our PBSA portfolio in Portugal is testament to the front-and-centre role we place on sustainability across our broad housing capability. We are proud to have received this accolade and will continue to work to ensure a high standard of sustainability across our real estate portfolio.” Richard Hamilton-Grey, Director of Sustainability, Nuveen Real Estate

Sustainability from the Construction Phase Onward

MILESTONE Porto Asprela integrates measures including state-of-the-art technology that improve its efficiency in terms of energy and water use. What’s more, optimum building insulation and innovative methods of energy and heat recovery as well as photovoltaic arrays for energy production also figure into this project’s excellent score. And as Miguel Garcia, CEO of Garcia Garcia, notes: “Aside from the technical innovations in this building, we made sure early on in the design that we were dealing sustainably with resources—by doing things like setting up a sustainable waste management system on the building.”

About MILESTONE, a Value One Brand

Vienna-based Value One develops and runs exceptional real estate and urban development projects that put smiles on people’s faces. Over 160 employees work to realise our visions in the company’s three business areas of development, operations, and investments. Over the past 20 years, Value One has realised outstanding properties worth around € 2 billion - and by 2024, over 15,000 individuals will live and work on properties that we’ve developed. The Viennese urban development zone Viertel Zwei and our MILESTONE-branded student apartments all over Europe are just two examples of the new standards we’re setting.

MILESTONE student apartments are run according to an ALL-IN concept and combine fully furnished apartments with the highest standards of design and quality as well as an international community. Since the original MILESTONE (MILESTONE Vienna Prater) opened its doors in 2013, a further eight student dormitories have been opened in Portugal, Germany, and Austria. With over 2,300 finished apartments currently in its portfolio, MILESTONE is a student dormitory operator that is active and expanding all over Europe.

www.value-one.com www.milestone.net

About Nuveen Real Estate

Nuveen Real Estate is one of the largest investment managers in the world with $129 billion of assets under management. Managing a suite of funds and mandates, across both public and private investments, and spanning both debt and equity across diverse geographies and investment styles, we provide access to every aspect of real estate investing. With over 80 years of real estate investing experience and more than 660 employees* located across over 25 cities throughout the United States, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region, the platform offers unparalleled geographic reach, which is married with deep sector expertise. For further information, please visit us at nuveen.com/realestate.

*includes 315+ real estate investment professionals, supported by a further 340+ Nuveen employees.

Source: Nuveen, 30 Sep 2020.

Please address enquiries to

Francesca Kilby
Press Officer EMEA & APAC, Nuveen Real Estate
E: francesca.kilby@nuveenglobal.com
T: +44 (0) 203 727 8386

About Garcia Garcia

Garcia Garcia, a specialist for the design and construction of residential, commercial, industrial, and logistics buildings active across Portugal, was founded during the late 19th century and originally built chimneys for textile industry factories that are now part of Portugal’s listed architectural heritage. Based in Guimarães and under its fourth-generation of family leadership, Garcia Garcia was recognised as Best Builder at the Construir Awards in 2016. Thanks to its accumulated know-how, it has gone on to work together with a number of multinational corporations - including Leica, Borgwarner, WEG, Elis, GMD, Bosch, and others - as they established or expanded their presence in Portugal. In several of these projects, Garcia Garcia has provided services ranging all the way from site selection to construction including building designs. With its diversified portfolio, this company also owns two business/industrial parks in Mide (Guimarães) and in Ermida (Santo Tirso), respectively, the latter of which has recently been expanded.

Please address enquiries to

Natália Sousa
E: natalia.sousa@pure.pt
T: +351 913 663 907