Grass on the roof

Health food, natural fibre clothing and hybrid vehicles have already been adopted by many people. But when are we going start living in ecological houses? With an eye to new trends, developers are increasingly turning their attention to green homes

 

 

Zuzanna Wiak, Mladen Petrov

 

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ccording to the leading fashion designers, this season green is in. The real estate industry has embraced this trend and is putting its money into green, that is, the environment. Such a mode of construction has already become popular in Western Europe. The Scandinavian countries, in particular, have tried to build according to the principals of sustainable development for quite some time. Apart from ecological building materials, many energy-saving solutions are applied in both single- and multi-family residences. Developers in the CEE region are still in their infancy in this field, but are now taking their first steps.

The Sun – a renewable resource

Solar collectors can generate enough heat for the costs of managing a building to be substantially reduced, even in countries where the number of sunny days is nothing to shout about. The Orco Property Group is investing in environment-friendly development (backed up with a strong marketing campaign) and is installing such devices in most newly-built residential estates. One of Poland’s first projects using energy-saving solutions is to be the Warsaw Klonowa Aleja complex. Bogdan Goławski, Orco Property Group’s sustainable development manager, remarks that: “We have used better heat insulated external walls in this housing estate, 20cm thick compared with the standard 10cm. Roof sealing and good quality windows to minimize heat loss, are also very important. We also fitted weather automated control units that set the temperature of heated water to correspond to the external temperature. Solar collectors which generate 35 pct of the annual energy required to heat the water inside the buildings are also installed, all of which result in large energy savings of more than 20 pct annually.”

The Dolcan company, which is expanding a complex of 22 single-family houses (to reach a target number of 43) in Warsaw’s Zacisze district, has also decided to fit solar collectors. Artur Suski of Dolcan has this to say: “We use both solar collectors and other devices to recuperate and distribute warm air, which – admittedly – increases building costs by an average PLN 1,000 per sqm. But even so, our customers are showing considerable interest in such an investment. We decided to install such systems, following the clear market trend, but also due to the increasing demand for such buildings from customers. We are also interested in developing estates of multi-family energy-saving buildings, though we have yet to undertake any such project. The Budo-System company, which is developing a seven-home estate on the outskirts of Konstancin-Jeziorna, has also come down on the side of energy saving. Solar collectors will be fitted on the roofs of all the stylish villas to heat the warm water required by the tenants.

Appearance plus quality

Suitable wall heating, using a good insulation material of a high energy classification, is another ‘green’ idea; the green roofs that are increasingly appearing on residential buildings are yet another. Apart from the aesthetic improvement, they also have several practical merits: assisting thermal insulation, reducing heat penetration in summer and winter and protecting the roof from damage. They also have a beneficial effect on the microclimate of cities, consuming carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Warsaw architect Bogdan Kulczyński has gone a step further, covering the elevation of his suburban house in Warsaw with wood and blackthorn, in effect creating a graduation tower, that is, a structure down which brine flows – providing a healthy form of insulation.

Yet another energy-saving solution used in multi-family buildings is automatic lighting, which switches on only when required, through the use of motion sensors. Orco Property Group is also thinking about whether to install in its estates photo-voltage panels that generate electricity from light. Krzysztof Godleś, Orco Property Group’s development and construction director, reveals that: “This is what we are aiming for in the Szczecin estate on which we are currently working. White arkitekter AB and RKW Poland, which are responsible for the architecture of the estate, are companies which have for a long time taken sustainable development seriously in the construction industry.” Rainwater will be used in Szczecin to water lawns and to wash communal facilities such as garages. The company is also looking into the possibility of using rainwater for toilet flushing. Additionally it wants to develop Poland’s first multi-family “passive house” building, containing around 15 flats.

Living passively is less expensive

A “passive house” is one which requires no additional source of heating. Ludwika Juchniewicz-Lipińska explains: “The heat obtained by passive energy generation (e.g. the heat generated by home residents) is processed into fresh air by a recuperator. To do that the building must be perfectly insulated to ensure that the heat does not leave the building in an uncontrolled manner. Ms Juchniewicz-Lipińska owns the architectural studio which designed Poland’s first passive show house, certifieed by the Institute of Passive Houses in Darmstadt, and which was built in 2006 in Smolec near Wrocław.

Multi-family estate developers are also increasingly wondering whether they could employ the passive method, but they are often put off by the high costs. Krzysztof Godleś puts it this way: “Were we to use in one estate all the available energy-saving devices, the cost of the investment would increase by around 10 pct just through buying them.”

At the moment, only individual passive houses have been built in Poland. So how can developers be persuaded to carry out such projects on a greater scale? Ludwika Juchniewicz-Lipińska, the owner of the Lipińscy architectural studio claims: “The interest aroused by passive construction is mainly related to the energy certification act, which becomes valid next year. Buildings that have a higher energy rating will command higher prices. When I see what is going on in Western Europe, I am sure the trend can only pick up more steam. Even multi-family blocks of flats are being built as passive houses, since city authorities prefer investing a larger one-off sum for constructing the buildings rather than being burdened with higher maintenance costs.”

Green just does not pay

Developers on the Bulgarian real estate market, where apartments are selling like hot cakes, see little sense in investing in green construction, especially since, in the opinion of the experts, using ecological solutions cause the price of a project to rise by around 10-15 pct. It would seem, after studying what is on offer, that no green objectives exist in practice. But this is not necessarily so. Georgi Nikolov, who owns the APXE architectural studio, is one of the few Bulgarian architects who try to promote ecological solutions in his contacts with investors. Regrettably, he rarely finds customers for his ideas. However, he stresses that it gives him much satisfaction to see how the number of people willing to talk about environmental development has been gradually increasing - especially when it comes to smaller companies. But the major residential market players (e.g. Winslow Development, Engel and Sofia Building) are simply not interested in green construction, at least for the moment. As Georgi Nikolov claims: “Those who decide to embark on such projects may still be regarded as fool-hardy. But I do think that we are gradually approaching the time when developers will have to pay serious attention to what more can be offered to customers.”

Indeed, signals are coming more regularly from the market of a slump in the number of homes sold. A fall was registered in the second half of 2007 in the sales of holiday homes, blamed on the US credit crunch, which has discouraged foreign – especially British – investors.

Pioneering hardships

The Umni Kashti (‘intelligent homes’) company is making the first ‘green’ moves on the Sofia residential market, by developing a complex of energy-saving houses in the Gorna Banya district, which has become known as the Umni Kashti estate. Vasko Minev, Umni Kashti’s managing director, states that: “Our decision to take on such an innovative project was motivated by the desire for quicker profits. We are convinced that energy-saving development will become more common 3-5 years from now. The industry has a conservative mindset, where changes are only slowly introduced. Recently, a decree in Ireland stipulated that the thickness of wall insulation should be increased to 16 cm. Before changes are introduced on the emerging markets, potential customers will have to be educated.” That is why, to avoid selling ‘a pig in a poke’, sales of homes will only get off the ground when construction is finished. The Umni Kashi complex will comprise 15 single-family houses, two of which are to be passive houses, the remainder will possess enhanced energy saving standards. Vasko Minev adds that: “I think that future owners of these homes will decide to purchase them outright, purely because of the lower energy bills. I don’t feel that the fact that such construction methods are more ecologically friendly is on its own going to convince them to buy.”

The company is expecting the venture to succeed and is planning to continue developing its operations in that direction. Can new operators be expected? Vasko Minev: “That is quite possible. Should the project succeed, the number of ‘eco-developers’ will rise, but knowing the nature of the Bulgarian market, I feel much PR will be generated around the issue - which will not necessarily lead to the dissemination of energy-saving construction.”

Audit as a mobilizing factor

Such countries as the Baltic States have just set out on their environmental roads. Aleksandr Kregers, marketing manager for new projects at Ober-Haus Latvia remarks: “In Latvia, a customer today is only looking for an inexpensive flat without a thought for saving energy. Indeed, I feel the very subject is unknown in this country. What an average customer expects, first and foremost, is that the developer is reliable and offers a high quality product.” In his opinion, it will take 3-5 years for Latvians to become interested in energy-saving housing and have greater access to the implementation of such projects. “At the moment there are just no developers carrying out such projects.”

Aleksandr Kregers emphasizes that: “Our portfolio contains more than 120 new investments, none of which could be called energy-saving. Perhaps, when developers are forced to perform energy audits and publish their results, customers will become more interested in energy saving issues and start promoting environmental development.” n