New offices growing greener in slump

Up to half of all major new office developments are being built using green guidelines - and the Property Council says the recession has probably boosted rather than reduced the trend.

The Green Building Council says about half of all new offices and big renovations in main cities are being tested against its "green-star" certification system. To be green star-certified a building must get at least four stars on a scale from 0 to 6.

It can achieve its rating in different ways but it must be energy efficient - using 120kw of electricity per square metre or less - and not be built on land of high ecological value.

Property Council chief Connal Townsend said the estimate of 50 per cent of office builds being green star-rated seemed high.

The green council worked it out using Statistics New Zealand building numbers, council building consents and property council market reports from last year, but chief executive Jane Henley said it was hard to be sure of the exact proportion because buildings could stay on the councils' books for a long time.

Mr Townsend said whatever proportion of buildings were being certified, a great number more used green guidelines without going through the official certification process.

He could think of many new office buildings that would qualify for at least three or four stars, but owners had not bothered to get them rated.

"There were people of my generation who thought it [green building] was a fad. We misread that completely," said Mr Townsend.

"My gut instinct is the recession made [green building] slightly more likely ... it sharpened competition."

He said companies wanted to keep their employees happy, and young workers took the environmental impact of buildings seriously. "It does cost extra but the big risk you have is that the man or woman down the road will get a better star rating and suck the tenants out [of your building]."

Grant Frear, a partner at consultancy company Deloitte, said top graduates were increasingly interested in issues such as energy efficiency and corporate responsibility.

That was a factor in Deloitte's signing up for a 12-year lease of its new Queen St office tower - the first high-rise to be given a five-star rating by the Green Building Council.

Ms Henley said the number of green office buildings was rising even though total builds were falling.

Australian lenders were beginning to consider green star ratings when assessing how attractive a building was likely to be to tenants, although she said it seemed that trend was yet to reach New Zealand.

The Green Building Council has 60 buildings going through its certification process at the moment, mainly office buildings but also including 16 schools and universities.

The next step is to begin rating residential houses.

United States analysts McGraw-Hill Construction last year found the green trend was growing globally.