• Culmia is the first major developer to launch a certification program that emphasizes health considerations in the design of its homes. Culmia’s Cuarzo certification establishes the criteria for designing and building homes that meet people’s current health needs.
• For its part, Culmia’s Jade certification for sustainable housing makes it possible to define the criteria by which a home will be designed and built in accordance with current sustainability needs.
• The developer has organized an experiential event at IKONO Madrid to raise awareness of both certifications, and to that end, it also featured a presentation by Sonia Hernández-Montaño Bou, an architect specializing in healthy architecture.

July 5, 2022 — Culmia, one of Spain’s leading real estate developers, today announced two proprietary design standard certifications: the Cuarzo Healthy Housing Certification and the Jade Sustainable Housing Certification. Both certifications were created with the goal of establishing health and sustainability criteria for Culmia’s homes.

These new in-house sustainability and health certifications will be applied to the design of all homes in developments intended for build-to-sell. Likewise, for homes intended for “build-to-rent” and affordable housing, in addition to designing projects in accordance with internationally recognized certifications, the developer is considering incorporating the recommendations of its own certifications as well. This measure will result in the application of these standards to the development of approximately 25,000 homes between now and 2030.

Cuarzo, the first healthy housing certification launched by a developer.

Cuarzo aims to outline the principles of healthy architecture that are incorporated into Culmia’s design requirements. It is a design and evaluation guide intended to help technicians working on Culmia’s housing developments easily and effectively integrate features that improve the health of the people living in those homes.

This guide is organized around five main factors: active design, a healthy building envelope, indoor air quality, thermal comfort, and environmental comfort.

Using a scoring system, it will be possible to assess the different levels of health that homes meet based on the variables specified for each of the five major factors to be analyzed.

The purpose of this certification is to design and build homes that help improve residents’ quality of life, with health as a central focus.

Jade, sustainable housing certification: construction and design that are integrated and aligned with the needs of each client and the planet.

Jade is a highly rigorous sustainability framework for the residential sector that defines the criteria for designing and building homes in line with the current sustainability needs of people and the planet. It does so by addressing three key areas: the environment, people, and the economy.

This in-house standard ensures the sustainable design and construction of all Culmia developments in order to contribute to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 2030 Agenda.

Jade is based on eight categories: active and sustainable mobility, eco-friendly land use, rational water use, rational energy use, the circular economy, health and well-being, and technology and digitalization.

To determine the sustainability rating of a Culmia home, the developer provides a form that uses a scoring system to assess the level of compliance with this standard.

According to Juan Manuel Borrás, Director of Operations at Culmia, “the launch of these certificates is the result of many months of work. Our goal was to develop tools and guidelines that would provide us with knowledge and assist both us and all our external partners in the design and construction of Culmia homes, with a focus on sustainability and health. This is the first time that health has been a significant factor in the design and construction of homes, thanks to a specific in-house standard. The industry is not yet fully familiar with the key elements that can improve health in a building, and that is why we at Culmia want to be a leader in this area to pave the way toward healthier homes.”

Both certificates were presented today at an experiential event attended by Sonia Hernández-Montaño Bou, an architect specializing in healthy architecture, who shared with attendees the importance of building and designing not only with traditional aspects in mind, but also by taking into account two vital parameters: health and sustainability. During the event, participants reflected on the importance of understanding and evaluating both the sustainability and the health of our homes, in order to take appropriate action and improve all aspects that can enhance the quality of life for people and the planet.