As the U.S. Green Building Council readies multiple new LEED certification programs in an effort to reduce the environmental impact of buildings, a new study suggests such systems can have a significant financial impact as well for building owners.
Property owners that adhere to sustainable principles in design and operations anticipate a 4 percent higher return on their investment than do building owners who do not, according to an ongoing national survey by CB Richard Ellis, one of the largest brokers operating in Fairfield County. The Los Angeles-based company is conducting the study with researchers at the University of San Diego.
In the survey, 79 percent of owners surveyed believe that sustainable properties perform better in attracting and retaining tenants, amounting to a 5 percent increase in building occupancy and a 1 percent increase in rental income.
The study defined a green building as one carrying the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification at any level, or one bearing the Environmental Protection Agency”™s Energy Star designation. The U.S. Green Building Council recently published an operations guide for integrating LEED principles into property management practices. And for the first time, USGBC is allowing software companies to develop applications to interact with its LEED Online program, which it says will result in more sophisticated software for building managers.
At the November Greenbuild conference in Chicago, USGBC unveiled several new programs, including two new rating systems: LEED for Retail and LEED Volume, the latter for high-volume property developers.
LEED Volume”™s pilot program participants included Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., which is relocating its headquarters in 2012 to Stamford from White Plains, N.Y. More than 60 Starwood hotels across most of its brands are pursuing LEED certification, and the company has required the designation for all hotels developed under its fledgling Element by Westin brand.
“LEED is becoming almost a requirement in some municipalities and that”™s a big (selling) point for Starwood”™s own internal development team,” said Gina Edner, associate director of environmental sustainability for Starwood, in a written statement. “Our initial research indicates that LEED-certified buildings provide real operational savings for our (owners and) developers and ”¦ they are more likely to retain their value.”
The volume approach is intended to assist developers with bulk purchasing and advance ordering of materials, while allowing them to shave time from project deadlines and providing more precise documentation of corporate sustainability efforts. To qualify, developers must have completed at least one LEED certified project and have another 25 on the books.
In 2011, USGBC will introduce a volume certification program covering the operation and maintenance of existing buildings.
LEED for Retail allows companies to win LEED designation by integrating green building design, construction and operation, including for interior construction and build-out projects, while complying with landlord occupancy demands.
Green construction has surged by half the past two years, according to McGraw-Hill Construction, even as the overall construction industry has declined by 28 percent during that interval. As of December, more than 50 buildings or planned projects in Fairfield County had obtained or sought LEED certification.
Last week, the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection and the Connecticut Business and Industry Association sponsored a Hartford “summit” on business sustainability, with United Technologies Corp. and ESPN among the corporate participants.
Comments 1