A Bank geared toward sustainable development
19.04.2022.

The global trend of decarbonisation, implementation of eco-friendly standards in production and corporate social responsibility is leading us to the realisation that market players that disregard these factors will present an excessive risk for the environment and for the financial sector in general if it fails to adjust. Sustainable development is gradually becoming part of LPB Bank DNA, driving an ethic of social, environmental, and financial sustainability. Sustainable development concerns every aspect of communication, from ecology to social justice and corporate governance.

Global warming, rising sea levels, and increasingly frequent floods, tornados and cyclone activity – are all these natural cataclysms directly related to pollution. People must start thinking about protecting our entire planet. In late 2015, members of the United Nations set global sustainable development targets in a watershed moment towards thinking about climate change. 2016 saw the adoption of the Paris Agreement, and so far, 190 countries have pledged to contribute to counteracting climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, irreversibly changing humanity’s course for future development. Since then, the environmental agenda has become a priority for businesses as well as state governments. One of the main roles in the global CO2 emissions reduction effort (decarbonisation) has been played by banks, which are consistently increasing so-called green financing in their credit portfolios.

LPB Bank is acutely aware of its social responsibility and is paying particular attention to integrating international standards and sustainable development priorities in all of its core processes and lines of business. Each of these initiatives pursues a long-term result. The bank has already committed to reducing the negative environmental impact of its products and services in line with global targets set at the business strategy level, working responsibly with its clients, and encouraging sustainable economic methodologies among its corporate partners.

The bank’s chairman of the Board, Robert Schoepf, noted: “Last year, the bank set a course for sustainable financing through many support measures. Adherence to this lending strategy will remain a priority for LPB Bank in 2022. The bank is willing to offer attractive conditions for green business initiatives that implement environmental impact management and audit systems. Today, while analysing the economic component of a transaction, we consider more than a borrower’s solvency; we also look at their ability to service their obligations until maturity. We consider environmental protection, too. LPB Bank intends to focus on those sectors of the national economy that facilitate Latvia’s movement towards producing products with added value, environmentally-conscious economic activities, stability and predictability of development across various industries. For instance, interest rates on loans for carbon-neutral construction may be lower than those offered to regular multi-tenement housing developers”.

Seeing how the pandemic has changed business and the everyday habits of people globally, with more and more urban dwellers trying to move closer to nature, the bank understands its responsibility to transition to environmentally-conscious processes. LPB Bank has also modernized its interior spaces, making them greener both literally and figuratively.

The project solicited assistance from the Katz design bureau, with co-owner and designer Stan Katz supervising the implementation.

“We were faced with the challenging task of breathing new life into interiors that had lost some of their splendour over time,” Katz comments. “Few people remember that this building on the corner of Brīvības str. and Blaumaņa str. was originally built for Aeroflot executives in the Baltic region. As a project of pan-Soviet significance, it was implemented with grandiosity and forethought, with high ceilings, a glass dome, a grand staircase, and exquisite granite flooring. It surprised us how untouched by time everything had been when we began working.

The property’s previous owner had partially damaged the flooring while installing the framework they needed for an office. The easy solution would have been to cover the shattered granite with wall-to-wall carpeting, but it unanimously decided to restore the floors instead. This was probably the most challenging aspect of designing the new interiors, but it clearly followed the sustainable development course set by the bank. Granite is a natural material, and using it has resulted in atmospheric emissions savings compared to carpeting production.

We did have to procure the granite from Italy because the lobby flooring needed to be installed a bit like a jigsaw puzzle – arranging the individual sheets for the best match of colour and pattern. We then applied special treatment agents to the rock surface, followed by hand-buffing. We also decided to retain the central line, which had been established using a different shade of granite, thus visually dividing the space into two areas and imparting a bright accent to the relatively glum granite.

The elegant semi-circular staircase is another element that is just as important in catching the visitor’s eye as the flooring. It was not replaced because it set a tone and a rhythm for everything else: the rounded reception stand, the ring-shaped lights, the shallow reliefs on the walls. As another point in favour of sustainability, the glass dome lets in natural light and provides illumination for the entire lobby (the present lighting fixtures are more decorative than functional).

Finally, the third pillar of the interior design concept is the seven-metre vertical vegetal wall. While by no means a ground-breaking idea, the live green wall with automated maintenance indeed breathes some life and warmth into the otherwise somewhat cold interior.

The dark flooring determined the solution for the walls: brightly coloured, accentuating the stone. The walls feature the same white shallow reliefs produced by our bureau based on my unique technology – there are no two identical reliefs of this kind. The circular couches were a solution dictated to us by the staircase. No leather is used anywhere, of course.

The conference rooms adhere to a more reserved style, with built-in cabinets featuring natural wood and desks in innovative Valchromat. This natural material can be uniformly dyed throughout its volume for convenient processing. The desks are coated with a unique material devised by manufacturer Wilkhahn.

As you enter LPB Bank from the street, you find yourself in a serene oasis filled with natural light, sounds of the forest, and natural vegetation. Clients and employees of the bank can enjoy a sense of harmony with nature. Every aspect contributes to an understanding of careful handling of our planet’s resources and mindful consumption.