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Sustainable design will help extend building longevity

Dubai - Several owners are tasked with retrofitting rapidly depleting buildings built with poor quality materials

There is currently over 9.5 million sq ft of commercial real estate in the DMCC free zone, offering a broad range of sizes, conditions, locations, ownership structures and building quality.

However, despite the extensive options available to occupiers, the consequences of average design by parochial building owners and sub-developers may result in a shorter life cycle for buildings.

Investing in a building's design for sustainability has only recently become obvious in the free zone with projects such as One JLT, the Leed gold certified office tower by DMCC.

In the past, inadequate building design has successfully value engineered quality out of projects without recognising the long-term detrimental effects of a short-term, commercially driven mindset. The impact has created a trickledown effect to occupiers in strata-titled buildings.

Many owners' associations, burdened with ever-increasing service charges, are tasked with retrofitting rapidly depleting buildings built with poor quality materials, without the operational systems to efficiently manage energy costs.

One owners' association manager said: "We inherit legacy issues associated with building design, in particular the lack of systems maintenance, and the willingness for owners to spend more now to save money in the future."

Clear directive
This indicates a clear directive to developers, owners and operators to design sustainable buildings with long-term societal, environmental and economic advantages.

What's in it for building owners to think carefully about sustainable design? There are many examples of commercial buildings witnessing high occupancy in DMCC, benefiting from the (overall) marginally declining vacancy rates and slight increase in net absorption in the Dubai office market.

So why invest in sustainable design when an already financially healthy design model delivers high performing yields? As a thumb rule, building operations are responsible for about 40 per cent of energy use. Making operations more efficient could greatly reduce energy costs and steadily control the maintenance charges, thus contributing towards a better-performing asset.

Building occupiers are becoming increasingly aware of the incentives for going green with new and existing buildings. According to the US Green Building Council, adopting energy-efficient designs and technologies for new office buildings can curtail energy costs by 50 per cent and yield savings of up to 30 per cent in existing buildings by replacing older building operating systems.

Despite what some occupiers may believe, additional costs associated with green construction are only marginally higher when compared to conventional construction.

Worker productivity
In addition to keeping operating costs in check, energy-efficient buildings increase worker productivity by an average of five per cent and as high as 16 per cent and are more valuable and desirable assets, particularly on a life-cycle basis. Various studies echo this trend and indicate that every dollar invested in energy efficiency can add up to $3 in building asset value.

Free zones and governments may also incentivise green buildings through rebates or other similar financial instruments.

The salient advantages of sustainable design aren't exclusively bottom line. NIBS, a non-profit organisation dedicated to sustainability issues in the built environment, believes sustainable design of the internal environment has a direct impact on workplace productivity.

Maximising natural daylight, proportionate ventilation, climate and lighting control, optimum acoustic separation and the removal of high emission toxic materials all result in a net positive benefit to employee engagement, satisfaction and productivity.

Government intervention by legislative reform, coupled with attractive fiscal incentives for owners and occupiers, will pave the way for building sustainable cities of the future.

A Moore's law approach to the adoption of sustainable design technology is needed most in developing markets, where an opportunity exists to preserve the ecological value of and reduce the environmental stamp on our work sphere.

- The writer is director of DMCC office, Core, UAE associate of Savills. Views expressed are his own and do not reflect the newspaper's policies.