Malaya
Business News Online -
Published on
Wednesday, 05 December 2012 23:00
Amidst the
shopping and commercial district of Greenhills, San Juan, an iconic structure
is raising the standards of development in the area. BTTC Centre, a 12-storey
office development by Hantex Land Corp., was recently inaugurated and is now
open to tenants looking for premium spaces.
BTTC Centre
is the first green building in the area to receive a Gold pre-certification for
Core & Shell under LEED. It is also the first PEZA IT Center in San Juan.
This
milestone in San Juan is reflective of the growing interest in developing
sustainable and green buildings in the Philippines. CBRE Philippines shared
that the surge in green buildings will support the robust growth of the
country’s property market.
Across Asia
Pacific, the scale, pace and general trend of recent construction has been
geared toward efficient commercial real estate that is in compliance with green
building codes. In addition, landlords
are retrofitting and upgrading existing buildings to improve its energy
efficiency and environmental performance, among other things. In the
Philippines, there are only six LEED certified buildings to date, which
includes the Asian Development Bank, Nuvali One Evotech, Shell Shared Services
Office, Sun Life Centre in Taguig, and Texas Instruments in both Baguio and
Clark. Additionally, 48 projects are currently registered for LEED
certification, including the BTTC Centre.
According to
Rick Santos, CBRE Philippines chairman and chief executive officer, the
benefits of going green are evident not only for landlords, but also for
tenants/occupiers. Santos further emphasized that the sustainability agenda
will continue to grow in importance in the real estate sector. “As the
outsourcing and offshoring sector gains strength in the country, we see more
occupiers and developers prioritizing flight to quality, with green buildings
becoming more the norm than the exception. Fortune 500 companies, multinational
corporations, and even local firms now consider green initiatives as
prerequisites in their day-to-day maintenance and operations,” says Santos.
While the
development of green buildings are on its pilot stage in the Philippines,
proven benefits maybe drawn from a study conducted by the CBRE Global Network.
For instance, while development of green spaces may entail additional cost at
the onset, this investment in green building is recoverable and is expected in
the long run through decreased operating costs, increased ROI through higher
tenant/customer retention and renewal, rental premium, and increased
building/asset value.
Developers
are thus becoming much keener in meeting these demands and are seen to be more
willing to incorporate “green” features into their buildings, making them
cheaper to occupy. This is made possible by technological advances, making it
easier and cheaper to build sustainable buildings. Even if such features are
not seen as “standard” for now, the same study believes that they will be a few
years from now. Green buildings are therefore increasingly seen as
“future-proofed” investments.
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