Profit and sustainability - mutually exclusive?

Profitability and sustainability - in business, there is often a clash between the perspectives and positions of the two approaches. In the field of building services engineering, how does this play out on the client, operator and maintenance side? On such and similar topics, Hegedűs Éva, Managing Director of HuGBC, Tamás Kovács, Sustainability Manager of WING Zrt., shared his thoughts and experiences at the Green Engineering Forum 2025 event, moderated by Hegedűs Éva, Managing Director of HuGBC, Győri Gyula, Managing Director of CPI Facility Management Kft., Bíró Gábor, Chief Operating Officer of Spányi Partners, and Tunkli Gábor, Quality and Environmental Manager of Lindab Kft..

Sustainability is part of strategic decision-making

The speakers are all actors on the green building and design journey who see sustainability as an integral part of business and professional decision-making.
At WING, sustainability has now become a strategic management task. As one of the leading privately owned property development and investment groups in the Central European real estate market, managing properties of different ages and functions, it has created an energy efficiency and sustainability division that spans the entire portfolio. It is headed by Tamás Kovács, who says that ESG reporting is not just a compliance exercise, but also a decision-support tool.

According to the expert's experience, the sustainability and energy efficiency developments that are supported on the market today are those that promise a 15-20 year payback period.

For payback periods longer than this, sustainability considerations are difficult, but not impossible. He also pointed out that it is important to see that operators approach this issue differently when they develop a property for their own use or for further use. In the latter case, the return on investment should come from rental and other operating charges.

Focus on social responsibility instead of unhealthy hoarding

Another important task for CPI Facility Management is to implement sustainability principles in the leases it manages. In total, CPI FM manages a real estate portfolio - office-retail- hotels - worth €1.33 billion, covering a total area of 662500 square metres. Gyula Győri considers sustainability to be an ethical issue.

He and his colleagues are also working to ensure that aspects of reducing the carbon footprint are economically sustainable. He stressed that, as a landlord, a way forward could be to work with tenants to achieve the targets.

Learning and social responsibility must be given a place instead of unhealthy hoarding, so that ethical thinking can create sustainability in the business world.

The technological and knowledge conditions are there - the question is what to do with them

The focus shifts when it comes to real estate for sale, with low acquisition costs and high profits coming to the fore - Gábor Bíró, the operational director of Spányi Partners, shared his experience in this area.

The company has been supporting construction projects since 1991 with project management, cost management and technical supervision. The goals of profit and sustainability are not mutually exclusive, but require different emphases. The specialist highlighted the key role of building services engineering in sustainability. He said,

In the sector, all the technological and knowledge conditions are there for green building to become a practice, the question is how much we use this knowledge.

Sustainability efforts must weave through the entire value chain

Gábor Tunkli, Lindab's Quality and Environmental Manager, pointed out that the most important decisions in terms of sustainability are made at the earliest stages of the project planning.

If designers and suppliers work together in a timely manner to make the right investment decisions, solutions can be chosen that are both energy efficient and cost effective.

On the investor side, there is already a green building approach and demand, and there are some good examples on the contractor side, but there is still room for further progress. It will be essential to work together to mainstream this across the whole value chain.

Tracking, the missing link

Regulatory requirements and investor demands are also opening up space for sustainable building services solutions, said Tamás Kovács.

This will involve follow-up work, parameterisation and harmonisation of the operation of modern equipment in completed or renovated buildings, and rethinking the contractual framework. The numbers on paper are not met when the buildings are filled with tenants - there is both significant opportunity and a perceived backlog.

The systems are implemented, but they are not always tailored to the user - Gyula Győri confirmed the problem and the opportunity of the lack of follow-up. This means that tenants may not get what they were promised with the building. Operation and its costs is another sensitive issue. In this area, the expert put the emphasis on education. There are many good solutions, but they are not always used well.
Demand-driven systems have great potential. At the same time, the good solutions of the past have not been properly implemented and, in many cases, are not used as intended," warned Gábor Bíró. And the use of hybrid solutions would lead to a significant increase in efficiency. The expert also called for cooperation between the various professional groups.

The introduction of EPDs could be a milestone for the industry and on the road to climate targets

Lindab, one of Europe's leading air technology companies, is committed to the use of recycled steel, the development of hybrid systems and innovations in control technology.
The specialist added that, in addition to technological development, training and awareness-raising are essential because „even good technology can be spoiled if it is not used well”. The Lindab places great emphasis on training and education, as well as the use of recycled steel.

Gábor Tunkli also pointed out that Lindab had previously committed to purchasing near-zero CO₂ steel from SSAB.  The two companies have since converted the previous agreement into a seven-year contract, with deliveries starting in 2026. The expert also touched on the opportunities inherent in regulation, citing as an example that

In Scandinavian countries, the law already requires an integrated carbon footprint calculation and consequently not only the existence but also the emission values of the EPDs associated with the product have become a competitive factor; if the Hungarian legislative environment moves in the same direction, „a new chapter in the industry could open”.

At the end of the discussion, Éva Hegedűs reminded that from 1 January 2028, carbon footprint calculations will be mandatory for all new buildings over 1,000 square metres, and from 2030, this will apply to all new buildings.
Participants agreed that ESG data collection, technological innovation and industry collaboration can together lead to the achievement of a carbon neutral construction industry. Mr Hegedűs underlined that sustainability is no longer a matter of choice, but a prerequisite for the development of the construction industry.