Byggeri & Arkitektur: Thylander’s ESG og data strategi

Read the originale article

Bjarke Mikkelsen, CEO of Thylander, challenges the notion that real estate companies must choose between building sustainably or generating financial returns.

Housing Development as a Cornerstone

Residential development is a cornerstone of Thylander’s business. Through the Build for Life Fund, the company raised DKK 2 billion last year, primarily for the development of rental housing in Greater Copenhagen, with a focus on high quality and low CO₂ emissions in construction.

“We want to stand out as the ones who build quality homes that are integrated into the landscape and the environment of the future. Because we develop for our own funds, we can take a holistic approach to development and construction, and we see a clear benefit in investing more in the early stages — ensuring better long-term operations for both tenants and owners,” says CEO Bjarke Mikkelsen.

For people to invest with us, we must be able to deliver returns. But I believe it’s a myth that you have to choose — either profit or quality and sustainability. On the contrary, we see that integrating the two logics — ESG and investment returns — creates better projects and better urban areas. That’s not to say ESG-friendly solutions never come with extra costs, but good solutions mean higher productivity, less waste, better durability, and improved tenant experience — all of which are ultimately a sound investment. There are still many products on the market that we can’t fully account for financially — but there’s also a lot we can improve.

Communities and Local Environments Create Quality of Life

ESG is now embedded across Thylander, fostering a culture of high-standard construction throughout the organization. The company has added specialists and established close partnerships with companies specializing in low-emission construction.

All our teams — development, construction, and investment — integrate ESG into their daily work. Being able to build is not enough; you must understand zoning plans, green structures, neighborhoods, and tenant relations. This places new demands on us as developers and partners.

In collaboration with municipalities, Thylander has also observed that construction quality is highly valued. In a recent project, the first round of bidding focused solely on quality and architecture, with offered prices only considered afterward and given a smaller weight in the final decision.

“We spend over 50% of our time in our homes, so housing quality and tenant experience are extremely important — for us and for our investors,” says Bjarke Mikkelsen.

Long-Term Value of CO₂ Reduction

Thylander already builds significantly below the CO₂ limits set by the Danish Building Code.

When the requirement was introduced in 2023 (12 kg CO₂/m²), we positioned ourselves 30% below. Now that the requirement has dropped to 7.5 kg for multi-story buildings, we are well below 7, because our goal is always to exceed expectations.

This is also a clear demand from the company’s investors, which Bjarke Mikkelsen sees as positive.

There’s an expectation that we continuously improve. Not only on returns — but investors understand that to deliver returns, we must provide quality construction, a good tenant experience, and stay ahead of CO₂ regulations. It’s also important to remember that quality in architecture and material selection is central to long-term sustainability.

Investors expect us to live up to our brand — to be better on ESG than the market. When we eventually sell the homes, it’s crucial that we can stand by our promises.

The Developer’s Responsibility for Quality

Bjarke Mikkelsen highlights Copenhagen as a city with high architectural and visual quality, despite the absence of a formal master plan.

Copenhagen’s quality is recognized internationally. At a gala dinner hosted by partner Velux’s venture fund, Kompass VP, for developers, investors, and startups, an American founder asked Bjarke Mikkelsen how Copenhagen became so architecturally beautiful — whether a master plan had been used.

And of course, there wasn’t. That’s not to say there isn’t poor construction in Copenhagen or Greater Copenhagen — in fact, there’s too much of it, in our opinion. But compared to many other cities, Copenhagen maintains a very high standard. The culture has been to build something aesthetic and of good quality, and we want to uphold that. Developers play a huge role in maintaining the quality of the city and its buildings.

According to Mikkelsen, Copenhagen’s quality stems from a balance between governance and capital:

If the state, city, or developers had too much freedom, construction might have progressed too quickly with larger, more uniform buildings. Conversely, too little capital would have reduced quality, as some parties in construction wouldn’t have been able to keep up and would compromise.

It also comes from a stable society, where developers had reasonable freedom to develop housing projects. Over time, this has allowed neighborhoods and quality constructions that define Copenhagen to emerge.

Tenant Experience as a Key Metric

Tenants are now seen as customers, just like investors — and happy tenants mean better returns. Bjarke Mikkelsen sees great potential in combining these perspectives.

My previous company was an e-commerce platform, where we were fortunate to have Alibaba as a lead investor. Service was what you lived or died by — alongside good products.

This inspired Thylander to launch Viva in June — a platform using data and feedback to measure tenant satisfaction, support caretaker services, and strengthen neighborhood relations, bringing the company closer to its tenants.

Build Simply – Build Better

Knowledge and data, according to Bjarke Mikkelsen, are key to more efficient and sustainable construction. Thylander has partnered with Grundfos on consumption tracking and with Velux on materials, inspired by the Living Places concept.

For example, the first two Build for Life Fund projects are underway and meet all fund criteria.
One is Søagerskolen in Smørum, where Thylander is building 107 rental homes and carefully renovating the school gym, including a community building for residents, with high material reuse from the old school.
In Hvidovre, the company is building 106 homes with HusCompagniet in the former Gartnerhaven along the Finger Plan’s green corridor.

We see strength in projects of 10,000–20,000 m², where we can create local communities and neighborhoods similar to Copenhagen’s districts. By involving Velux, Grundfos, and our contractors early, we can achieve truly outstanding results.

The Developer as an Innovation Driver

At Thylander, entrepreneurship is a shared responsibility.

The developer shouldn’t just be the master of the Excel sheet. We encourage employees to propose ideas, but they must be well-documented — for example, why a new material is a good choice.

We foster an entrepreneurial mindset combined with a strong investment committee that ensures we always make the right long-term decisions. In projects, we involve specialists from the start — those with expertise in components, materials, and energy. Only in this way can we change the way we build and continuously improve.