May 21, 2019
Is it more expensive to build a sustainable building than a conventional one? What are the benefits to tenants and owners? All the answers to the buildings of the future are here.
Cost and value of construction
“Green” buildings do not necessarily have to cost more, especially when cost strategies, management and environmental strategies are incorporated into the development of the building from its initial design phase. By contrast, studies around the world have shown that Sustainable Certified Buildings are more likely to attract tenants or buyers and claim higher rents and sales prices as they are marketable in contrast to conventional buildings. In Greece, we experienced this very strongly with the real estate crisis, finding that conventional constructions are no longer attractive as they are non-tradable.
Based on studies and data (up to 2012) from a variety of examples of sustainable construction, actual design and construction costs, and the cost of consulting consulting, have been recorded as additional costs of 0.4% to 12.5% of the project budget. The database comes from buildings from the world map as well as from different building evaluation tools. The additional cost varies from country to country, and of course, the level of maturity of the industry and operators is of course also a role.
Operating cost
Sustainable buildings have proven to save money by reducing energy, using water and other resources during construction, and offering lower running and maintenance costs over their lifetime.
It has also been calculated that during the lifetime of a conventional building, we spend for the operation, damage repair and renovation (every 25 years a total renovation is calculated), at least once more than the building cost of the building itself.
Risk mitigation
Extreme weather events and systematic changes in weather conditions affect property insurance and raise questions about the protection and resilience of buildings and cities. These factors, of course, directly affect rental income, as well as the future value of real estate and hence the return on investment. A new program by the Rockefeller Foundation on Fortified Cities, which provides support to cities that want to join it, as well as a comprehensive road map that guides the city’s network to strengthen the protect them against these risks (www.100resilientcities.org). Structuring our neighborhoods and cities with sustainable buildings, we can fortify cities, and hence the inhabitants, with energy security, to preserve natural resources and to create jobs, of course, in terms of endurance and long-term quality of life.
What do we mean by “Green Building”?
The first wave of high-performance green buildings has emerged in response to the demand to save energy and resources. But the times have changed and strengthened this concept mainly with the advent of sustainable evaluation tools (with standards such as BREEAM, LEED, DGNB, etc.). Industry recognizes that green buildings offer much more than energy efficiency and need to be holistically addressed. Energy efficiency can not come by reducing fresh air levels, worsening the indoor quality of the building, or maintaining high consumption of other resources (eg water). Buildings should be considered in the context of their impacts on local, natural and built environment as well as their neighborhoods and their impact on other neighboring buildings (social and cultural criteria).
The trend of the market today
There is an increase in awareness, acceptance and training around Sustainable Building Certification and Assessment Tools, even in Greece. This is an indicator of market maturity to welcome and adopt sustainable practices. Investors and owners are increasingly demanding in terms of sustainability and energy awareness and require more industry experience in this field. Also, the implementation of building sustainability certification tools is now a “testament” to investors for the quality level of the final deliverable. In Greece (the crisis), 5 structures have already been certified with various evaluation tools. But the most positive thing is that there are enough structures that we will probably see in the future in the course of certification and evaluation.
How do we affect the cost of a sustainable building?
There are ways to effectively reduce the cost of building green buildings. The main ones as impressed are:
– Adopt sustainable strategies and implement them from an early stage of design to avoid costly re-adjustments.
-Experienced experienced designers and builders, sustainable consultants
– Implement an integrated planning process from the pre-project phase to the completion and final delivery of the project to the end-user, who must be fully informed, take over the building and in essence take the most active and critical role: -System operation in a rational way!
In general, the integrated design approach combining intelligent and passive design, heat-efficient systems, reinforced and insulated building shells with efficient design to reduce energy demand combined with high-performance systems provide a cost-effective alternative.
