The RISE program will offer Colliers' clients in Albania,Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Montenegro and Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia& Herzegovina, FYR of Macedonia, and Cyprus consulting serviceson educating employees on sustainability, training employeesinterested in becoming green building consultants. In addition, thecompany is promoting best practices by developing outreachmaterials for clients and including features on environmentalsustainability in feasibility studies and market reports. Inglishcurrently is teaching a 14-week online course on the issue ofsustainability. "The idea is not to transpose LEED to SoutheastEurope, but to create enough ideas for countries to consider,"including simple items such as the use of permeable pavement,Inglish said.

[IMGCAP(2)]For developers this is a country-by-country effort,though the International Council of Shopping Centers has formed aSustainability Working Group to adapt the Building ResearchEstablishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM), used in theUnited Kingdom, to create a Pan-European sustainability standard by2009. But doing so across 25 European Union members and candidatecountries at varying points of sophistication, and with differingnational standards, presents some difficulties.

"We always choose the national standard as a minimum," explainedJaap Gillis, COO of Redevco Europe, Amsterdam, and the chairman ofICSC Europe. "On top of that, you have the regulations from theEuropean Union for standards that must be met by 2020."