Industry willing to pay more for sustainable building -rpt

16/11/07:

Preliminary survey figures released by Jones Lang LaSalle Industrial show almost half (49%) of industrial occupiers are willing to pay an additional premium on operating costs of up to 10% in order to occupy a sustainable building in the long term.

Jones Lang LaSalle’s National Head of Warehousing and Logistics Services, Jeff Pond says, “Although the demand for higher levels of environmental compliance may initially appear a threat to owners of warehouses and distribution centres, sustainable buildings do not necessarily represent a loss in building utility or level of profit.”

“Rather, modern sustainable technologies present the potential to raise environmental efficiencies while simultaneously bringing real economic gains – most importantly, as an incentive to attract new occupiers and/or precommittments to any  new development,” he says.

The recently released Jones Lang LaSalle white paper, “Sustainable Industrial Property - “Greener Pastures” shows that typical considerations on sustainability elements for warehousing and logistics occupiers include environmental impact from building operations, noise pollution, energy consumption, efficiency of lighting and air conditioning, choice of building fabrics material and system, source of drinking water, hazardous gas or chemical emissions and the history of site usage.

“Experience shows that it is the occupier market that drives demand for sustainable services rather than the developer market,” says Pond.

“The issue will become increasingly significant over the next three years given that the industrial sector in Australia generates around 26 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year, and that these figures are conservatively estimated to double by 2010,” he says.  “Even small changes to the way we occupy, maintain and operate our commercial property portfolios is likely to have a significant impact on emissions.”

Pond believes that due to the strong levels of awareness, the warehouse and logistics industry is at the cusp of significant change in its commercial property practices and priorities. “Though admittedly developments in the industrial sector are only at a fledgling stage, there is increased scrutiny by the industry on implementing ESD principles in industrial accommodation by owners, developers and occupiers,” he says.

“Almost half (45%) of the 65 respondents to the survey, for example, indicated that their organisations consider ESD features and green rating a factor in locating a new premises,” he says.

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