The inconvenient (office) truth

The green colour is still fashionable. As energy bills continue to rise, investors and developers are finally starting to take a closer look at green office projects. How far behind is Central and Eastern Europe?

Mladen Petrov

It is late evening in Warsaw, but the skyscrapers downtown are still buzzing with life. These illuminated towers certainly look magnificent and contribute to Warsaw’s image of fast-paced city, but those who actually bother to enter these office buildings will be disappointed. The yuppies have all gone home. So how come the lights are still on? An office emergency? No, just another example of environmentally-unfriendly behaviour at the office.

The next time you are leaving the office, please remember to switch off the lights. Action at the workplace is now needed, as the recent figures make clear: energy use in buildings accounts for 30-40 pct of the total energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions in most countries around the globe. In fact, cars, although still one of the major polluters, turn out to be lesser culprits than energy-inefficient buildings. The CEE region is certainly lagging behind Western Europe in terms of energy-efficient office buildings, but a few positive signs are already making industry players believe that the gap will be overcome in the long run. What needs to be done? In the case of Poland, by 2020 carbon dioxide emissions need to be reduced by 20 pct relative to the 1990 level, while by the same year renewable energy generation should account for 14 pct of Polish output. The building sector therefore offers the largest single potential for energy efficiency.

Early bird

“It is still too early to talk about a revolution, but we are observing an increasing awareness amongst both property owners and tenants, who are now stepping up and starting to be more proactive. They want to know about the solutions the building has to offer and how they can benefit from them,” claims Monika Rajska-Wolińska, partner and head of property management at Colliers International Poland. “The newly delivered buildings are doing ok in terms of attracting tenants, but it is the older buildings that need the most attention. This is the right time to think about a green makeover.”

“Up until now developers, especially those who are not planning to retain the building, were not interested in bringing an energy-efficient product to the market. As the cost of investment remains crucial, the majority were less than eager to pay extra for such a project. The future owner of the building is the one lumbered with the huge energy bills,” comments Paweł Markiton, managing director of Trane in Poland, a company offering services such as manufacture heating, ventilation, air conditioning and building management equipment and systems.

Developers eager to go green from the very start of a project have to be prepared for higher – by as much as 20 pct – project costs. Consequently, a long-term vision is crucial. “It is not about how much you have to pay at the beginning, it should be about how much you can save in the long run,” feels Mr Markiton. A good recent example is provided by the Empire State Building in New York City, which is now undergoing a major green makeover. The price tag for the green upgrade is USD 20 mln, but the annual energy savings will come to USD 4.4 mln. “Property owners start to prick up their ears the minute we mention the word ‘savings’,” relates Colliers’ Monika Rajska-Wolińska. “Just last week I had three meetings with companies offering energy management services. The green wave is definitely coming our way. For the time being we are still taking a baby steps approach – segregating rubbish or making sure the lights are off at the end of the day.”  

Good deeds

The contribution to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is also important. You can’t really put a price on the satisfaction that comes with making a difference, but you can try to measure it. According to the latest study by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, which surveyed over 200 companies including Skanska and Sonae Sierra, good practice can reduce these emissions by as much as 70-80 pct. In Warsaw, one of the pioneering buildings in this field is the Warsaw Financial Center. Thanks to the HVAC system, in 10 years the building will save 6 mln kWh – as much as the annual energy usage of a town with a population of 11,000 people. The Marriott hotel in Warsaw is also going through a greening process, which already allows it to cut air-conditioning costs during the summer months by up to 50 pct.

In the opinion of Paweł Markiton, the new legislation, although much anticipated, does not necessary provide an incentive for developers. “The energy certification, which is now obligatory, does provide us with information on the building’s energy efficiency, but doesn’t oblige developers to go for green design. This is what we need to work on – taking things to the next level,” he comments. In addition to energy use reductions in the range of 24-50 pct, a green office building is also able to reduce water use by up to 40 pct; and last, but not least, the number of sick leaves go down by 35-55 pct, a 2008 report on annual savings of green buildings throughout the EU shows.

While the majority of players are still mainly talking about the possibility and necessity of going green, there are also investors and property owners who have already gone further. Skanska, based on its experience in the Scandinavian countries, is now making the energy efficiency of its projects in the CEE region a top priority. Deloitte House in Warsaw, an office building developed by Skanska Property Poland, was the first new office building in Poland to obtain the GreenBuilding certificate issued by the European Commission. The main criterion for obtaining the certificate is proving that the building will use at least 25