Green Buildings - Benefits & barriers

Green Buildings - Benefits & barriers

What does it mean to be green? Everyone talks about green buildings, but what are
they in practice? Do they represent a real engineering paradigm or just a passing
fashion?
This month we begin a two-part investigation to identify the bottom lime benefits of green
buildings, what they offer to those who fund, develop and occupy them, and how these
benefits may be used to market green concepts more effectively.
In the first article some key developers, investors and users discuss what they think a
green building should contain.
No doubt most companies would like to think of themselves as green. Whether this
extends to a paper recycling policy or some form of car sharing scheme, most
organisations are probably able to cite at least one aspect of their corporate activity
which demonstrates a degree of environmental responsibility.
There is no doubt that altruism is a powerful force in deciding corporate policy on these
issues. But such actions can pale into insignificance if the building occupied by that
organisation is fundamentally energy wasteful. If the company is made aware of energy
waste, how much would it be prepared to invest to redress the balance?
While naturally-ventilated buildings typically use 50% less energy than their fully air
conditioned counterparts, the fact is that with fuel prices at their current low level, energy
savings alone are not sufficient to encourage a major rethink of design principles.
Its not all doom and gloom, however. A growing number of owner-occupiers and
developers are waking up to the non-energy benefits of green buildings. The last few
years have seen a growing number of such buildings, such as Powergens hq in
Coventry, its neighbour the Cable and Wireless training college, Ionicas hq in
Cambridge and a speculative office development by British Gas located at Leeds City
Office Park.
So what is it about these buildings that makes them special? Are they truly green, or just
perceived to be green? In order to explore the benefits that these buildings have over
the deep-plan sealed buildings typical of the 1980s, ECD Energy & Environment hosted
a brainstorming workshop which aimed to:

identify the industrys perception of green buildings;

list the range of benefits that a green building can offer and prioritise the relative
importance of these to the marketplace;

identify perceived barriers to the take-up of green buildings;

identify routes for promoting green buildings more effectively.

Participants were drawn from various sectors of the industry and divided into three
groups, namely users and investors, developers and property agents and researchers
and designers.
The first task was to define what is meant by the term green building. The responses
were surprisingly consistent among the different groups. Most felt that a moderately
green building might exhibit the following features:
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Green Buildings - Benefits & barriers

natural or displacement ventilation;

optimum use of daylight;

high thermal mass;

structural honesty;

solar shading/light shelves;

waste heat recovery;

improved levels of insulation;

use of renewable/recycled materials;

use of local materials;

avoidance of deleterious materials;

water conservation measures;

low volatile organic emitting materials;

effective lighting controls;

limited automation of environmental control.

The user group also introduced location and use factors that would affect space
requirements, and the environmental impact of transport to and from work, such as hot
desking, a local workforce and video conferencing.

Benefits of green buildings

Taking the moderately green building as an example, each group was asked to prioritise
the main benefits it would offer over what is typical in the commercial office market. They
were also asked to list the barriers, worries or anxieties which might prevent a green
scheme from going ahead (table 1).
Again there was surprising consistency between the responses, all three groups
including the following as part of their top four perceived benefits:

low cost-in-use deriving from reduced energy and maintenance requirements;

an enhanced company image;

a higher quality environment leading to healthy, happy staff and higher

productivity.

Cost-in-use was the key issue for the user group, who expected significant energy
savings and lower maintenance costs from reduced reliance on mechanical services.
Nat Wests Peter Chamley summed it up when he said: The biggest benefit to users of
green buildings is low cost-in-use. It would be a simple building, not complex. It would be
a building which, by its very nature and design, orientation and layout would have happy
workers and therefore productive workers, and finally it might meet a corporate image.
The developers also saw the quality of the internal environment and its effects on staff
satisfaction as the most important issue, as it was felt that cost savings from improved
productivity would far exceed those from running costs. A green building could also be
one that appears to address the concept of sick building syndrome, something often
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Green Buildings - Benefits & barriers

talked about by staff and managers, said Katherine Robinson of DHL International (UK).
The researchers voted enhanced company image at the top of their list, but felt that
running costs would be more significant in future if fuel prices begin to reflect the true
environmental costs of energy use.
Other benefits that were listed included:

simplicity of operation;

lower built-in obsolescence of services;

better occupant control over the internal environment.

The first of these is interesting, as it reflects a growing concern about the poor
performance of buildings in use. Building Services PROBE series indicates that
buildings do not always perform quite as well as their designers might hope.
One potential benefit often cited for green buildings is the ability to attract
environmentally-conscious staff. On discussion, it was agreed that having a green
building with a more pleasant working environment would not necessarily attract more
able staff, although it might prevent a highly valued member of staff from leaving, or
indeed a good prospective candidate from choosing an alternative employer.

Barriers to green buildings

Feedback on the main barriers to green building was also consistent across the three
groups, with the following being seen as the most important:

a lack of understanding by professionals;

perceived higher construction costs;

unknown technology;

a lack of operational experience.

The first of these is possibly the most significant as all three groups placed lack of
understanding near, or at the top of their list. This was felt to apply to all sectors of the
industry from investors, developers, potential occupants and, most alarmingly, those
responsible for design. Designers are not necessarily up to speed, because everything
is still first generation and buildings are still being designed on first principles, said Colin
Stoker of Gardiner & Theobald Engineering Services.
Ed Costelloe of British Telecom agreed: The main barrier to the take-up of green design
is a fear of the unknown and worries about overheating. We need a caucus of user
experience, and we simply havent got it.
Whether true or not, there is also a perception that construction costs are higher for a
green building. Reduced costs for mechanical services may be offset by higher costs in
other areas, for example for more elaborate shading systems and greater wall-to-floor
ratios. Whether this is perceived or actual needs to be examined in more detail.
Other barriers that mentioned included:

higher maintenance costs;

existing green buildings are mainly single occupancy and owner-occupied;

Green Buildings - Benefits & barriers

lack of government incentives;

a lack of supporting legislation/taxation;

green buildings have a wacky image;

an inherent conservatism in the industry.

Maintenance costs are an interesting area as they were listed both as a benefit and as a
barrier. A recent survey of service charges in 255 properties reported that charges for
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non-air conditioned buildings were 14/m less than for their air conditioned
counterparts. Heating and air conditioning maintenance was 60% lower for non-air
conditioned buildings.
One possibility for the perceived concern may relate to future cleaning and maintenance
costs for unusual features such as elaborate shading systems.

Overcoming the barriers

The final task for participants was to decide how best these barriers to green building
could be overcome and the benefits promoted in order to increase the uptake of such
buildings.
Top of the list for all three groups was the need to show people round existing examples.
This includes both those responsible for commissioning buildings, and those who will be
using them. Without visiting a well daylit green building, it is difficult for people to
comprehend what is meant by a higher quality or more pleasant working environment.
As an alternative to building visits, the teams suggested that high quality video, CD ROM
or virtual reality techniques might be used to reach a wider audience.
A key issue was the need to raise awareness of the impact that buildings have on the
environment and on health and to show people positive examples of how these issues
can be addressed. This could be achieved through articles in the daily newspapers, by
well produced programmes on television and in the medium term by education in
schools and universities. As Richard Smith of letting agent Grenville Smith & Duncan put
it: We talk about green cars, we talk about healthy food, but we dont talk about green
buildings.
Those wishing to promote sustainable development need to stimulate the public to ask
questions. In order to assist in this it was agreed that a figurehead or spokesperson was
needed. Nominees included Sir John Harvey Jones, Richard Branson and Prince
Charles.
The developers, agents and users felt that taxation might be necessary, for example a
carbon tax. Money raised could be used to fund the developers wilder suggestion of
windfall subsidies for green buildings, taking the form of free rent and service charge
deals for the first five years. Other big ideas included the suggestion of EC or Millennium
Commission funding for a Green Building of the Year award.
While the initial workshop supported the view that green buildings offer benefits,
overcoming perceived conservatism in the industry means that these benefits need to be
well documented and quantified in cost terms.
Table 1 The benefits of and barriers to green buildings
Group
4

Biggest benefits

Main barriers

Green Buildings - Benefits & barriers

Users

Low cost in use, simple

building, happy workers,
corporate image

Developers, letting agents

Quality of environment
leading to higher
productivity/staff harmony,
low running costs,
endorses green
image*Addresses sick
building syndrome, lower
maintenance, lower built-in
obsolescence, perceived
control of local
environment
Image, running costs,
international conditions,
health, productivity, feel
good factor, ease of
operation, sustainability,
long-termism

Designers, researchers

Lack of understanding of
concepts, high
construction costs, high
maintenance costs,
fashion
Lack of knowledge by
occupants and
professionals, staff
perceptions, no
operational data, no
market testing*Higher
capital costs, so far only
single occupancy (may be
difficult to split ), so far
owner occupation, no
government incentives
Cost (perceived), investor
reluctance, unknown
technology, marketing
difficulties, professional
ignorance, wacky image,
inherant conservatism,
legislation/taxation

The benefits and barriers are summarised for each group and presented in order of
priority. The bullet points ( * ) indicate terms which were presented in addition to the
main points, but which were not given any order of priority.

Green Buildings - Benefits & barriers