We believe that a shopping mall today is much more than shopping and entertainment. It’s also a place to meet, spend leisure time, and for many people – also work. It’s an integral part of the city, especially the neighborhood, for whose residents it is often the main place to run daily errands.
In Blue City, from the beginning, we focused on symbiosis with the city and its residents, rather than settling for coexistence. We wanted to be a place where you could buy shoes, but also take them to the cobbler. To go to the cinema, and at the same time get your keys fixed and return your curtains to the mangle. That, among other reasons, is why Blue City today has a post office and a public transportation passenger service point.
Our closest neighbors are also important to us – for years we have been organizing and supporting collections for the local DPS, cooperating with the Ochota Youth Culture Center and financing the “Korniszon” newspaper published there, edited by children and young people. 10 years ago, we financed the construction of the Opaczewska bus loop.
In recent years, we have cooperated with WWF, the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity and UNICEF. And these are just a few of the dozens of initiatives in which Blue City was already involved when hardly anyone in Poland had yet heard of such a thing as CSR.
We still want to follow this path, but in a slightly different way. So far, we have focused on “here and now” activities. We have no intention of abandoning them, but we have decided to look further into the future than ever before. And even to plan this future – and to do so in the perspective of not two, but more than 20 years, when the children who today come to Blue City with their parents will start their adult lives. A big building is a big responsibility, which is why we have pledged to achieve total climate neutrality by 2050.
According to the BREEAM building environmental certification, Blue City has been qualified to level four, described as “very good.”
However, we are not settling on our laurels. We are already reducing water and electricity consumption and will continue to do so year after year. We are continuing to replace some of the installations with energy-efficient ones, and soon we will be buying only “green” energy from suppliers. Our plans for the coming years also include the installation of photovoltaic panels on the roofs of the Blue City complex. We will expand their network, which will benefit our tenants as well.
This is all within the framework of our adopted ESG strategy developed by Arcadis, the sustainability and building audit specialists operating in 70 countries.
We want to actively inspire and facilitate environmentally friendly attitudes among customers. We want it to be easy to get to Blue City by leaving the combustion car at home. Our location favors us – the proximity of the WKD station, the Western Railway Station or a dozen bus lines that have stops right next door.
Soon it will also be possible to reach us by streetcar, as part of a newly constructed line. However, these are not all alternatives – a Veturilo city bike station is available in front of Blue City, as well as a large bicycle parking lot and a free repair station. On top of that, we are still developing an electric car charging network.
Of course, Blue City is not only about customers, but also about tenants, with whom we will cooperate on the road to achieving climate neutrality – if only by signing green lease clauses. We want to act here as a guide, but also as a partner, not as a demanding contractor. Most companies will sooner or later have to adapt to the EU’s pro-environmental directives – we have already blazed a trail, so we can facilitate the green transition for our tenants.
The community-building aspect has always been close to us, not only in terms of working with the neighborhood and the city, but also within the center. We have “City” in our name, and that’s the kind of city within the city we feel a little bit. Soon Blue City will be Greener. But rest assured – the name stays!