Mitsui Fudosan is working on planning and design that is easy for everyone to understand and use by incorporating the concept of universal design for office buildings, retail properties, hotels and other properties that are used by a great many customers, as well as for-sale condominiums, rental condominiums and detached houses.
In the office buildings business, the Universal Design Guidelines drawn up in May 2002 were revised in March 2005 in line with amendments to the Heart Building Law, and then revised for a second time in November 2008 in line with the abolishment of the Heart Building Law in correlation with the Barrier-Free Law taking effect in December 2006. We are striving for an environment where office workers can work with peace of mind.
In the rental housing business, in addition to ongoing compliance with the Design Standards Checklist, a universal design is employed at some residential units of Histria Kokubunji (Kokubunji City, Tokyo) whose construction was completed in July 2007. Specific measures include installing handrails at the front door and in the hallway, restroom and prefabricated bathroom, placing a bench at the front door, and adopting an emergency contact system in the restroom and prefabricated bathroom.
At retail properties, the Usability and Accessibility Guidelines (amended Heart Building Law) are employed at the four properties of LAZONA Kawasaki plaza (Saiwai Ward, Kawasaki City), LaLaport YOKOHAMA (Tsuzuki Ward, Yokohama City), Urban Dock LaLaport TOYOSU (Koto Ward, Tokyo) and LaLaport KASHIWANOHA (Kashiwa City, Chiba). Moreover, an intercom system is installed at the entrances and exits to LaLa garden KASUKABE (Kasukabe City, Saitama), LaLaport TOKYO-BAY (Funabashi City, Chiba) and other major facilities.

In Mitsui Fudosan's office buildings business, we have been working to firmly establish the image of Mitsui's offices under the brand concept of “Workers First” since fiscal 2002. In fiscal 2006, we compiled the philosophy of “Workers First” that represents “offices where working people are number one,” created a symbol and logo and placed the “Workers First - Mitsui's Offices” motto at the core in our effort to differentiate Mitsui's “secure, comfortable and convenient” offices from those of other firms. In fiscal 2007 as well, we conveyed the philosophy of “Workers First” in various forms within and outside of the Group. We have applied the symbol and logo at entrances, inside buildings, on waste bins, ashtrays, exteriors of structures and cleaning equipment centering on office buildings in downtown Tokyo, as well as via the Web and print media.
Moreover, Christmas decorations, concerts in lobby atriums and such are conducted as part of these “Workers First” initiatives.

Widespread installation of automated external defibrillators (AEDs)* is being promoted at public and other facilities across Japan to prevent sudden death from cardiac causes such as ventricular fibrillation. Mitsui Fudosan has been installing AEDs in major office buildings as standard equipment since 2005. In correlation with amendments to the Universal Design Guidelines in November 2008, we have made it a general rule to install AEDs as standard equipment in buildings that have someone on duty around the clock.
The number of AEDs installed at our retail properties totals 64 AEDs at 29 facilities as of June 2008. At the facilities with AEDs installed to date, we are switching from installing AEDs at disaster prevention centers and information desks to “installation in common-use areas” as of fiscal 2006 to enable more immediate rescue. As of June 2008, of the 64 AEDs installed across Japan, 18 AEDs are installed in the common-use areas of LaLaport YOKOHAMA, LaLaport KASHIWANOHA, LaLaport KOSHIEN (Nishi-Nomiya City, Hyogo) and other facilities. We intend to continue increasing installations in common-use areas.
At Mitsui Garden Hotels as well, AEDs have been installed in all hotels and basic training is also conducted at that time.
In addition, we are encouraging staff at each facility to take first-aid classes to learn how to operate an AED and conduct other emergency aid so they are capable of responding appropriately if the need for an AED should arise. Of the 1,013 operation center staff, security guards and other staff from all over Japan who are thought to require such first-aid classes, the number of staff who have taken the classes has reached almost half at 494 staff (as of July 2007).

(*) An automated external defibrillator (AED) is a device used to restore a normal heartbeat by administering an electric shock to a heart in ventricular fibrillation. Although authorized use of the device was restricted to physicians and paramedics in the past, use of the device by the general public as well was approved by a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare notification in July 2004.

Mitsui Fudosan is working to prevent exposure to secondhand smoke by promoting the separation of smoking areas at office buildings and retail properties.Measures to separate smoking areas are also being advanced at LaLaport and Mitsui Outlet Park retail properties through such efforts as setting up smoking rooms.
At Mitsui Garden Hotels, we are pushing to make guest rooms non-smoking. The ratio of non-smoking guest rooms to the total number of guest rooms was 19% in fiscal 2006, but has jumped to 30% in fiscal 2006 as a result of engaging in renovation work and reached an even higher 33.8% in fiscal 2007. We are also pursuing making areas around hotel lobbies and front desks non-smoking or separating smoking areas in such areas, and are taking responses in consideration of smokers as well, such as setting up smoking spaces in parts of the common-use areas of lobbies.

Introduction of initiatives conducted by the Mitsui Fudosan Group for actual projects