View point: Intelligent design is only way to truly green building

Aug 29 2007 by Chris Oakes, Liverpool Daily Post

BUILDINGS have a profound effect on our environment. They consume precious material resources and energy and have a lasting impact on their surroundings.

So it’s probably not surprising, then, that green is the new property buzz word. Environmental concerns are a catalyst for change across the board and not least for property developers.

It’s a huge driver for building design and sustainable buildings are here to stay. In some instances, the notion of green buildings has almost become a marketer’s gimmick, with wind turbines or motion-activated lights installed as token gestures to appease the environmental conscience of tenants.

Of course, these energy-saving measures are effective – but a wind turbine doesn’t make a green building.

It contributes so little to the building’s energy use that it almost misses the point. Developers have a responsibility to encourage people to maximise efficiencies in terms of how energy is used and to ensure the building is designed to retain energy – rather than papering over the cracks with ‘green gestures’ which only attempt to replace energy.

We are set to develop a 36,000 sq ft Grade A office scheme, known as Vetro, on the corner of Crosshall Street and Victoria Street and have made ‘environmental consideration’s’ the very cornerstone of our design.

Instead of just thinking about intelligent lighting to minimise energy use, we’ve designed a building which has 70% natural light penetration thanks to full height windows which use solar-shading on three sides of the building.

Design features like this negate the need for energy use and it’s this type of thinking which will really deliver a green legacy. Developers will have to raise the bar if we are to play our part in reducing carbon emissions by 2020.

Giving older buildings a green lease of life can be both time and cost prohibitive, with new build schemes preferred in favour of quicker returns – but it’s important refurbishing older building stock isn’t overlooked. For us, the former Tinlings building provided the basis for our Vetro scheme. Refurbishment and the inclusion of some environmental features wouldn’t have been enough. Instead we’ve taken the skin off the building, saving the existing structure and giving ourselves the basis on which to develop a new environmentally-focused and high quality product.

You could say we’ve occupied the middle ground – a hybrid of old and new – but what is clear is that we as developers have to really interrogate the notion of green if we are to provide truly innovative, sustainable buildings which deliver tangible environmental benefits.

* Chris Oakes is director of Huntsmere