FOCUS 10 REASONS TO BUILD GREEN


1 SHELLEY STREET, SYDNEY


2. TO SET THEMSELVES APART FROM THE CROWD


Commercial developers are also challenging their project teams to exceed minimum requirements, for a more hard-nosed reason.


“Sometimes developers see an opportunity to go beyond the minimum requirements to provide a point of difference to the market,” says David Jarratt, Director at WSP Built Ecology in Melbourne. “Especially at the moment, when there are few


green buildings going up, they want to differentiate themselves to clients by demonstrating that a development is future-proofed against energy prices. That means tenants and owners have less exposure to rising energy prices, and that’s a good selling point.”


Jarratt’s team are currently working on two similar buildings. One will meet the current industry standard, while the


other is aiming for an additional Green Star and another half Star for operational carbon performance.


“That’s been their biggest driver – to go over and above standard practice for a high-rise commercial office tower. Even though the norm is already quite high performance, they want to do better and create a point of difference in the market.”


ITMEANS TENANTS AND OWNERS HAVE LESS EXPOSURE TORISING ENERGY PRICES


3. TO CUT COSTS


At WSP Flack + Kurtz in San Francisco, Senior Vice President Clark Bisel has noticed that both building owners and occupiers are starting to understand the importance of energy efficiency and to treat it as a core value.


“Here, when a building is sold, the energy use of that property has to be disclosed, so it can be used in the property valuation process. If you have a very efficient building, it’s worth more.” In the future, he believes that high energy use will be a significant liability, while the value of an efficient building will continue to grow. “Long-term


08 SOLUTIONS


costs is one of the issues we’re trying to work with clients on. A system may cost a bit more, but when you look at the long-term value from reduced operating costs, as opposed to the minimum short-term cost, that changes the decision.”


Of course, the higher the standards for new buildings become, the greater the discrepancy between their performance and that of the existing stock, built in an era that seems increasingly profligate. To address this problem, WSP has partnered with Brookfield Multiplex, architect Woods Bagot


and M&E contractor Mercury to launch a green retrofitting business for commercial buildings.


Brookfield Multiplex Green offers an integrated service combining design, engineering and construction, which identifies where a building is using most energy and the best solutions for reducing the bill. “We look at how much energy their building is consuming and we carry out a detailed survey to see how we can reduce that,” says Bownass. “There’s a variety of things we can do depending on the type and age of the building. We present them to the client with


the payback time, from less than five years to more than 15, so they can make up their mind where they want to go.”


What sets this service apart is that the building is monitored and the financial savings are guaranteed. “If we say that they will save a quarter of a million pounds on the energy bills, but they only save £240,000, they will be reimbursed the difference.” This wasn’t a problem at 23 Canada Square in London’s Canary Wharf – predicted energy savings for the first year of operation were reached after just nine months.

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