The green scene in construction

Understanding green.

Your kind of green is cash flow. Lots of it. But let’s pretend you truly do care about the environmentally sound options. Chances are your tenants; lenders and competitors are tuning into the trend. And here’s why.

Look at it on a marginal scale, where more green meant less money. More sustainable meant less value. But, these days it seems the scale has been tipped in favor of eco friendly and cost effective in the same gulp.

At Horsepower, we spend lots of time in the presence of corporate owners, developers and commercial firms to brainstorm every millimeter of wiring performance. Details can make all the difference in terms of future utility costs, design interaction and a wide range of mechanical lingo which directly influence a property valuation on many levels.

Sustainable profits.

We understand the need for ergonomics and recent findings are leading toward a new era in green building. They call it sustainable. They’re also starting to call it profitable. That’s a good start from the days of thinking sustainable building to cost anywhere from 10-30% more than the average building cost. Latest findings are proving sustainable buildings to range from slightly cheaper to minimally higher than standard projected costs and for those that cost more, the advantages exceed the investment by far.

Coveted space. Green buildings have a consistently higher rental/ lease rate of occupancy than standard properties. They also present at a higher value, with ‘green rated’ structures averaging a rental increase of 3% per square foot and a sales increase of 16% per square foot. Percentages are significantly higher for greater levels of LEED certification, drastically increasing rent roll by a whopping margin.

Dollars and sense. Sustainable office buildings are known for lower utility and operational costs as a direct result of smart integrations from the get go. Office buildings have recorded a whopping $1M in savings for electricity costs alone.

Safety first. Greener solutions translate to healthier lifestyles and safer environments. Additionally, your good deed as a developer gets noticed by more than just the habitats you support. In fact, properties are considered more lucrative to potential buyers or lenders as a result of their ergonomic advantages.

Better exposure. Implementing green initiatives in your high volume space means more investor or lender interest due to the very same advantages that compelled you to invest in its green building. More buildings are following the purist movement, with options ranging from cool to uber natural and they are the new magnet for high profile investors.

Sustainable building has landed tangible reward in terms of valuable loan material and the stats are no fabrication. With savings of more than 50% in energy use, Idaho’s Banner Bank office building made some iconic progress. One Bryant Park saves 100mm gallons of water per year and they use some pretty unique methods to do so. Back in NYC, the city’s Empire State Building conducted an energy efficient retrofit with projections to save $4.4mm annually.

Trends have greatly influenced the way properties are built and it seems the future is in the past. Can sustainable truly take off? Only time will tell and it’s a story worth following.

It’s now a business sense to invest in sustainable building, living and working; and at HPE we are stoked to be making a difference via awareness, training and consumer advisory.