EDGE and MAS Certifications

As part of Sustainable Construction Month, we are celebrating the achievement of two environmental certifications at our business park. First, Logos, a state-of-the-art logistics building, received Edge certification, which recognizes efficiency in resource use. Meanwhile, the Life Zonamerica building, which houses a sports club, received MAS certification, which attests to its best practices in design and construction.

At the latter event, a meeting was held that brought together five industry leaders to discuss sustainability, the financing of workspaces, the role of academia, and the importance of certifications in building trust and creating a positive impact.

Carolina Dovat, director of Dovat Arquitectos—the firm that led the architectural design of Life Zonamerica—emphasized the importance of mitigating the impact of construction “using the best possible tools.” “Certifications provide us with the roadmap we need to meet specific milestones and measure the extent and nature of our impact on the environment and people,” she noted.

Sebastián Mauri, Senior Relationship Manager for Large Corporates and Sustainable Finance Leader at HSBC, stated that “the banking sector has both the opportunity and the responsibility to channel financial resources toward the right projects,” and that, to this end, it is “very important” to integrate environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) factors into decision-making.

Along the same lines, Gustavo Ávila, Senior Director of Sustainable Finance and Corporate Finance at the credit rating agency FIX SCR, noted that “the incorporation of ESG criteria is no longer an afterthought, but rather a central consideration for all portfolio managers.” He also acknowledged the importance of “those who implement best practices being able to showcase themselves and serve as a beacon for competitors, encouraging them to make an extra effort to measure up.”

The panel also included Jorge Arismendi, CEO of the certification body LSQA, who emphasized that “the goal is to challenge local customs and practices in order to foster better development” and that the key to achieving this lies in collaborative work. “First, we must adapt to local realities, and second comes the challenge: to transform customs and practices so that they effectively become what we need to improve,” he said.

For her part, Belén González, director of the Global Center at the Technological University (UTEC), shared her perspective on how to promote a commitment to sustainability through education. “Uruguay can serve as a testing ground for generating innovations in sustainability. It is important to view academia as a space for trying new things and innovating at the national level with low risk,” she said.

In this way, we reaffirm our role as Uruguay’s leading Free Trade Zone, where sustainability and innovation come together to drive new ways of growing and doing business.

These certifications not only attest to the quality of its infrastructure but also reinforce a long-term vision: that of a park that brings together companies, talent, and services under the highest international standards, helping to position Uruguay as a strategic hub for sustainable development