[box_dark]Green is the way to go[/box_dark]
Environment friendly and sustainable practices are being adopted by everyone across the globe these days as let’s face it, they are the need of the hour. The real estate sector is also adopting the green building methods to contribute in conserving the environment. Green buildings are primarily those structures that are built using sustainable methods and with eco friendly building materials so that these buildings have no harmful impact on the health of the humans as well as on the environment. Singapore recently announced a price on the good points of such green structures. The Singapore’s real estate and building industry introduced a new rating guideline in order to set a cost on the advantages of green buildings.
[box_dark]The adequate rating of green structures[/box_dark]
The International Green Building Conference was held in Singapore a few days back and this event lasted for three days plus it included a total of 250 high grade professionals from this field. It was on the last day of this event that SISV (The Singapore Institute of Surveyors and Valuers) and BCA (the Building and Construction Authority) announced the latest guidelines. The revised version of industry guide from SISV is all set to release in the coming month and these new instructions and guidelines will be included in the guide. These guidelines will extend information and details on how to measure the price benefits on green and sustainable methods like water as well as energy efficiency.
The lead of Valuation Advisory Services for global property, Jonas Lang stated that these all new guidelines and instructions will help the valuers to be updated and check that these valuers adopt a more logical approach while measuring the total estimate of green buildings. Until this official announcement of the guidelines the real estate sector in Singapore had no absolute method to speculate the affect of green and sustainable building characteristics on the property values. Many of the late studies like the one conducted by BCA plus the National University of Singapore last year stated that restituting the old commercial structures with the latest green and eco friendly methods actually enhances their total asset value because there is a considerable decrease in their operating expenses.
Doctor Lim Yan Luan who happens to be the chairman of Valuation and General Practice in SISV said that due to an increase in the total number of green structures it becomes very important to have accurate methods to evaluate their exact cost benefits. The builders got higher building costs when they included the green methods in their building procedure and the main matter is that whether these green buildings are capable of counterbalancing the total investment done in them. There are many studies that have been conducted across the globe and almost each and every one of them states that the sales premiums will be almost double for the environmental friendly buildings. A study regarding one of the green office buildings in the United States showed that tenancy rates and rental rates have been actually doubled.
The SISV also said that it would organize various workshops to help the members to understand the green structure valuation in a better manner. BCA also came forward by its idea of initiating the training programs for the valuers. The chief of BCA said that these new set of instructions will definitely have quite an impact on the builders as well as the valuers. These guidelines will also present the green structures in a much more positive light by making it clear that such buildings can really help in improving the asset value.
