Saturday, September 20, 2008 [ sunstar.com.ph ]
RESPONDING to business process outsourcing (BPO) companies’ preference for medium-rise buildings, an information technology/BPO building in Mandaue City was re-designed and re-engineered, such that its number of floors is reduced by half of its original plan but its floor area is expanded.
Originally, the Robinland Business Center in the North Reclamation Area is designed with 16 floors with about 500 square meters of leasable area. The building’s new specifications now include eight floors but it has more than a thousand square meters for lease.
Robinland Inc. vice president for operation and business development Jun Sa-a told reporters yesterday that the changes have affected the timetable of the building construction and increased their investment from P200 million to about P300 million.
After nine months of re-engineering and re-design, Cebu-based real estate company Robinland Inc. formally started the construction of the center last April 8. But work on the building’s foundation—made of 400 pieces of 15-meter long piles that is an equivalent to a five-storey building—started in Dec. 7 last year and was completed in March.
The construction is expected to finish late next month but the finishing works will take three months. Still, locators can start retrofitting as early as November.
So far, six BPO companies, mostly call centers, have expressed interest in leasing spaces in the building.
Green building
Colliers International Philippines director for investment sales Ieyo de Guzman explained that BPOs would go for medium-rise buildings because of their operation and cost-efficiency, space-utilization and harmonization of “green building” features.
Colliers—a property services company and a global affiliation of independently owned real estate service companies that manages 281 offices in 63 countries—is the exclusive agent of the Robinland Business Center.
Colliers is involved in the center’s development from start of planning to day-to-day operations.
Sa-a said the building is equipped with its own sewage treatment plant to recycle water for sanitation and irrigation use. The new façade is also designed to minimize penetration of the sunrays resulting in lower energy requirement for airconditioning.
“It will also use energy efficient lighting systems, maximized collection and utilization of rainwater and will have an operation waste management system,” he said.
Robinland Business Center, although not yet completed, has been featured in a Green Real Estate Guide as one of the Philippine’s first green information technology (IT) building.
Robinland Inc. has tapped the service of architect Tessie Javier of TP Javier Architects and Associates for the building design and has registered the center with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority.
After the center, the company will focus on a 6,700-square meter retirement village in Barangay Quiot, Pardo. (NRC)
