Bärbel Schomberg, CEO and owner of German advisory firm Schomberg & Co. Real Estate Consulting, has been appointed to the sustainability advisory board of Hamburg-based real estate developer ECE.

ECE is Germany's first real estate company to set up an advisory committee staffed with external and independent sustainability experts. The company recently partnered with the University of Applied Sciences in Karlsruhe to develop a manual for sustainable shopping centres, and today is developing its projects in accordance with the criteria defined in the guide book. A large part (10) of its shopping centres are certified by the DGNB German Society for Sustainable Construction.

'Sustainable construction is becoming a standard, and rather than being an environmental tenet, it is increasingly becoming an economic necessity. In the long-term, only certified properties will stand their ground on the market,' Schomberg said.