Profitably green

Sometimes green activism can go too far, such as blocked projects and completed roads that cannot be opened. However, it is hard to find the downside of ecology in the real estate sector. It has increased the value of projects and led to them being constructed more efficiently; created people-friendly workplaces and shopping centres that look like gardens, as well as energy-efficient buildings. There were no criticisms of the trend to be heard during the September ?Switch to Green' conference at the Warsaw Sheraton hotel. "If it were not for the change in attitude towards the environment, we would have been on the brink of an ecological disaster," declared Mieczysław Grodzisz of Hines Polska during the first discussion panel. "We can now hope to avert such a disaster in the future, as developers now have environmental factors in mind as early as at the design stage," added Maciej Zajdel, who represented IVG Poland.
Warehouse developers also need to think about green solutions, according to the participants on the next panel. Admittedly location is the most important thing when it comes to logistics complexes, but it is worth thinking long-term about new green solutions - because some are also available for warehouses. According to Damian Grzywacz of PointPark Properties, green office solutions are equally applicable to warehouses. The only thing that you need to remember is to use different but suitable technologies. It could be said that green solutions are nothing new on the retail market. However, there are a few eco-aware consumers in Poland who would also appreciate them in their homes. Will developers jump in to exploit this niche? Perhaps, but not just yet. Their current approach could be changed by the banks, which are increasingly offering financial products for the purchase of eco-friendly solutions. "Unfortunately, there is only a small number of customers who are aware of the fact that they should be asking developers about a building's energy certificates when buying an apartment," explained Grażyna Kasprzak of Bank Ochrony Środowiska. "This is done by less than one in ten apartment buyers," added Bartosz Turek from Home Broker. In summing up the discussion, Mikołaj Martynuska, the moderator of the panel, noted that the residential market is still very fragmented, so it is hard to introduce any norms or certificates. Rubbish segregation, conserving water, bird and bat feeders, and unmown lawns - these are only some of the green solutions employed in shopping centres these days. Thanks to such measures, shopping centres, as well as office complexes, can obtain BREEAM and LEED certificates. Florian Habeck of ECE Projektmanagement revealed that the costs of constructing a shopping centre with a high-level green certificate are 1.5 pct more than for a standard mall, but the savings in terms of operating costs can be around 20 pct per year. When discussing green solutions, it is sometimes worth seeing and trying out the products that can enable a facility to become eco-friendly, which is why the organisers of the ?Switch to Green' conference gave those attending the opportunity to familiarise themselves with many of the green solutions currently on offer. Exhibitors included such companies as Cais Handel, Flop System, Grontmij, FB Services, Goodman, ECE, Skanska, Philips and WSP Enviro. After the coffee break it was time for a debate on the office market, which boasts the highest number of projects to have obtained the various green certificates. Why is this segment ahead of the rest of the field? According to the panel, it stems from the maturity of the market and the fact that ecological practices produce measurable profits. But are there any eco-friendly hotels? The panel, on which sat representatives of the Starwood and Port-Hotel chains, among others, claimed that every hotel, even older facilities, could be more environmentally friendly. All that needs to be done is to replace certain systems with more energy-efficient ones during a routine renovation. Agnieszka Róg-Skrzyniarz mentioned that all the bulbs in the Warsaw Sheraton hotel have been exchanged for LED lighting. The outlay was recouped within two years. The speakers also emphasised that a facility will not operate in an energy-efficient manner without the appropriate training and preparation of its staff. So how can a building be designed, constructed and equipped to make it eco-friendly? First of all, we should try to save energy, claimed Grzegorz Juszczyk of Echo Investment. Thanks to modern systems we are already able to exploit the heat generated by human beings, due to which the tenants themselves can heat buildings at no extra cost for half the year. And what was the general conclusion to be drawn from the conference? Energy-efficient construction is the future - and this is a fact that simply cannot be ignored. ZW