Push coming to turn office towers green

The Lumley Centre in Shortland St saves power with double-gazing. Picture / Greg Bowker

Commercial property developers are not known for their politically correct views and are hardly rushing towards putting up environmentally friendly buildings

Some of the cutting-edge ideas being adopted around the world - such as cladding office towers in rammed earth, building rooftop gardens to collect rainwater, recycling office workers' toilet waste, installing solar panels to generate electricity and demanding the tenants ditch their air-conditioning - seem highly unlikely to be adopted here anytime soon.

But things could change fast.

Office towers could be dripping with live greenery rather than glass. Commercial landlords might have to attach a "green rating" sticker to show how nice - or naughty - their property is, just like the energy efficiency stickers on new fridges and washing machines.

Towers could be fitted with special eco-lights, user-controlled ceiling fans might be used to cut back air-con use and timber (not from rainforests) or aluminium louvres might be used to control shading and sunlight.

The importance of environmental issues is slowly dawning on the commercial high-rise property sector.

The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority is pushing for changes. It is the main body charged with delivering the Government's energy efficiency agenda and it encourages, promotes and supports energy efficiency, conservation and the use of renewable energy sources.

The Property Council has long had an energy efficiency award as part of its national prizes. Its annual conference on the Gold Coast last winter featured Maria Atkinson, executive director of the Green Building Council of Australia.

David Keir, chief operating officer of Australian developer Delfin Lend Lease, showed how the Bond office building in Sydney was designed along environmentally friendly lines. Tenants reported less tiredness, fewer headaches and less eye irritation and took less sick leave than in other buildings, he told the New Zealanders.

Some office tower developers are sceptical about the concept of environmental sustainability, saying it makes little commercial sense.

Rob Lang, who heads the country's largest commercial landlord - the $466 million AMP NZ Office Trust - is not entirely persuaded by green ideas, questioning how they would impact the bottom line.

The trust, which built Auckland's premier waterfront office block, the PricewaterhouseCoopers Tower, is not rushing to put up any more blocks, mainly due to Resource Management Act issues.

But if he was contemplating a new high-rise, environmental sustainability would hardly be the most important objective for Lang, charged with generating high returns for the trust's unitholder investors.

Tenants are not yet ready to pay extra for leasing a "green" building, he said. But if it could be proven that such developments worked on a commercial footing, he might consider it.

Yet the sector has rallied behind a new organisation, with plans for a NZ Green Building Council well advanced.

"It's a mission of madness," says council chairman Peter Dow. Dow, of Wellington property consultancy The Dow Group, helped lawyers Simpson Grierson have green ideas incorporated in the new Lumley Centre on Shortland St in Auckland, including double-glazing to reduce electricity costs and communal meeting rooms and mail sorting areas to avoid replication in tenants' space demands.

Green buildings were "not an abstract technology playpen with gimmicks", Dow said. Hard facts, not emotion, would promote green commercial buildings to the property development sector, he said.

"Our message will be that becoming more green-oriented makes sound business sense," said Dow.

The council hopes to demonstrate developers can save costs and have happier tenants by putting up green buildings. It wants to provide information and impetus so they can build commercially sound but environmentally responsible structures.

"To appeal to CEOs, it's essential we demonstrate why it's good business," says Dow. "The benefits of green buildings are potentially wide-ranging. They can have a favourable impact on health, building economics, energy savings, resource management and user convenience."

The 12-member council plans to focus initially on non-residential and non-rural sectors but Dow wants to later expand his concepts to all sectors.

A new rating system would be established, not unlike those which became mandatory three years ago for whiteware appliances.

Dow wants commercial landlords to conduct energy audits of their buildings and wants developers to achieve "three worthwhile and financially viable green outcomes" in the next three years.

Developers should question whether they can re-use more materials. They could recycle and refurbish, rather than rebuild. Advertisements for office towers could rate buildings so tenants knew how green the building was, Dow says.

GO FOR GREEN

A "green" office building:

* Uses less electricity.

* Recycles or re-uses water.

* Is built from recycled materials.

* Has reduced carparking spaces, and areas for bikes.

* Has extensive insulation to cut power costs.

* Has efficient air-circulation systems.

* Uses sunlight to slice heating bills.

* Has overhangs that cut cooling bills.

* Is designed to reduce energy, waste, heating and cooling.