Global Project to Boost Business Case for Green Buildings
MEDIA RELEASE
Global
Project to Boost Business Case for Health and Productivity
Benefits of Green
Buildings
EMBARGOED
FOR 3rd MARCH 2014: A major global project which
will help to define the health and productivity benefits of
green office buildings is being formally launched today by
the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC).
The topic is rising up the global real estate sector’s agenda as organisations begin to understand the business benefits of greener, healthier buildings. With 85 per cent of a company’s costs spent on salaries and benefits, even modest improvements to staff health and productivity can have a dramatic impact on organizational profitability.
Studies have found:
• Up to 11% gains in productivity
from improved ventilation
• Up to 23% gains in
productivity from improved lighting design
• Significant improvement in employee recruitment and
retention as a result of green
retrofits.
•
However, challenges remain in
attempting to robustly measure health and productivity
outcomes, and attaching financial value to them. The
WorldGBC’s project aims to establish a common way of
capturing these benefits, and to provide best practice
guidance on the type of green building features – such as
daylighting, ventilation and indoor office environments –
that enhance them. This can then be used to better inform
investment decisions.
WorldGBC can announce today that the corporate sponsors for the project are Jones Lang LaSalle, Lend Lease and Skanska. The Green Building Councils of Hong Kong, United Kingdom, United States and Colombia are also partnering on the project.
Jane Henley, CEO of WorldGBC, said, “While there is a growing body of research that firmly supports the connections between sustainable buildings and improved health, productivity and learning outcomes of those who occupy them, this evidence is yet to inform investment decisions in the same way as traditional financial metrics. This project aims to identify the metrics that will support investment in greener buildings.”
Alex Cutler, CEO of the New Zealand Green Building Council said, “The commercial property sector is increasingly realising that to maximise value and performance, our buildings need to be designed with the environment and particularly with people in mind.
There is a clear link between the quality and design of the indoor environment and the health, wellbeing and productivity on building occupants. If we are better able to demonstrate this link through developing a common metrics and research methodology this will significantly strengthen the business case for green buildings.
Claudia Hamm,
Head of Strategic Workplace (EMEA) at Jones Lang
LaSalle, said, “Our recent experience has
confirmed that when making strategic location decisions,
corporate clients are shifting their focus away from space
efficiencies and are asking questions about the
environmental credentials of the space and how it will
support the productivity of their staff.
“I am delighted that JLL is sponsoring this exciting and invaluable project. My colleagues and I across our Strategic Workplace and Energy & Sustainability teams are very much looking forward to being involved in the wide-ranging discussions as the research evolves.”
Geoff Dutaillis, Group Head
of Sustainability at Lend Lease, said, “People
are an organization’s greatest asset and lie at the heart
of the broader sustainability challenge, which is to meet
our needs for the future, while respecting nature – the
very system that supports our existence. As the fight for
talent increases, corporate health and wellbeing strategies
are increasingly being used as a competitive edge to attract
and retain the best people. The spaces we occupy are an
integral part of this endeavour.
“As one of the
largest international property and infrastructure companies,
our focus is on continuing to invest in ‘health and
wellbeing’ strategies for our employees, partners and
visitors.”
Staffan Haglind, Green Business Officer at Skanska, said, “The situation today – where buildings’ impact on human health, wellbeing and performance is usually not taken into consideration – is not good enough. I’m totally convinced that optimizing premises from a human perspective will help people as well as organizations to thrive and outperform. To support the development of the tools and metrics needed to make this happen is perfectly aligned with Skanska’s company values.”
Conrad Wong, Chairman of Hong Kong GBC, said, “The HKGBC aims to raise green building awareness by engaging the public, the industry and the government. Green building does not only mean improving energy efficiency, but also providing a healthy and productive indoor environment for daily living. The aim of this project coincides with our vision and the HKGBC is delighted to become a funding partner of the project and to work side by side with the WorldGBC to boost the development of healthy green building.”
With the support of Green Building Councils and their members from around the world, and a steering group of experts in this field (see notes to editors), the final report is expected in Autumn 2014.
NOTES TO EDITORS
The steering committee, which will meet monthly to provide strategic guidance on the project, will consist of:
Miles Keeping
(Chair), Deloitte Real Estate
Vivian Loftness, Carnegie
Mellon University
Ché Wall, Flux Consultants
Claudia
Hamm, Jones Lang LaSalle
Duncan Young, Lend
Lease
Staffan Haglind, Skanska
Dr. Fiona Adshead,
independent advisor
Mark Nicholls, independent
advisor
Hong Kong Green Building Council
Roger
Limoges, US Green Building Council
Robert Lam, Wong &
Ouyang
The technical committee, which will have a ‘hands-on’ role in researching and producing report content includes experts from around the world, including:
Dave Richards, Arup
Andy Dengle, BRE
Dr
Chun-Ping GAO, Building and Construction Authority of
Singapore
Neil Billett, Buro Happold
Rebecca Pearce,
CBRE
Judith Heerwagen, General Services
Administration
Richard Francis, Monomoy Company
Eddy
Van Eenoo, SGS
Ashok Nathwani, Sydney University
Bill
Browning, Terrapin Consulting
Prof Andrew Thatcher,
University of the Witswatersrand
The project builds
upon WorldGBC’s report The Business Case for Green
Building which summarised the existing research into the
health benefits of sustainable buildings. Published in March
2013, the report acknowledged that more work was needed to
build the evidence base and translate academic research into
information that could be used to inform business
decisions.
Visit http://www.worldgbc.org/business-case/ to read WorldGBC’s report The Business Case for Green Building.
About the World Green Building
Council
The World Green Building Council
connects a global coalition of more than 100 not-for-profit
organizations and 27,000 visionary companies with a single
mission: to drive the buildings sector towards
sustainability and ensure our buildings deliver their full
potential. Green Building Councils work locally to define
and deploy best practice in the market, help governments
shape policy, and build a culture of cross-sector
collaboration. Our collective movement scales the local to
the global: protecting the natural environment, enhancing
the health and well-being of individuals and whole
communities, improving energy security and resource
efficiency, and creating green growth and jobs. See:
www.worldgbc.org
About New
Zealand Green Building Council
The New Zealand
Green Building Council (NZGBC) is a not-for-profit, industry
organisation dedicated to accelerating the development and
adoption of best practice industry market based green
building.
Our vision is that New Zealanders work and live
in healthy, efficient, productive and environmentally
sustainable buildings today and into the future.
NZGBC is
a membership organisation that aims to support our members
stay up to date and position themselves as market leaders in
the drive for a sustainable built environment.
NZGBC
operates the Green Star, Homestar, NABERSNZ and BASE rating
systems for sustainable buildings. We advocate best practice
and provide training and education for all areas of the
building industry value
chain.
References
• Studies have
linked improved ventilation with up to 11 per cent gains in
productivity
http://www.usgbc.org/Docs/Archive/MediaArchive/207_Loftness_PA876.pdf
• Studies have linked improved lighting design with up
to a 23 per cent gain in productivity
http://www.usgbc.org/Docs/Archive/MediaArchive/207_Loftness_PA876.pdf
• Studies have shown significant improvement in
employee recruitment and retention as a result of green
retrofits
http://www.deloitte.com/assets/Dcom-UnitedStates/Local%20Assets/Documents/us_re_Dollars_Sense_Retrofits_190608_.pdf
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