Put an NBGhoST in your building and
manage your risk, minimise your cost and maximise your return 

Our new NBGhoST Program can;
   improve your building
   increase your star rating
   encourage tenant retention

The Napier & Blakeley Greenhouse Sustainable Tenancy Program (NBGhoST Program) is for property owners who wish to maximise the long term return from their portfolio.

The program is designed to provide owners with comprehensive detail of the performance and opportunities of their buildings.

Following a tailor made due diligence report which we work with you to define the requirements of; we then identify the opportunities available for your property.

This includes rating assessments as required and full life cycle cost analysis.

The NBGhoST Program looks at energy, water, waste, transport and indoor environment quality as required by the building owner.

The Napier & Blakeley difference is that with our long standing independent work for the property industry, with no ties to suppliers, we are able to take an honest view of your building potential advising the real return and value to you as the property owner.  We view all possible upgrades and works from a life cycle perspective not simply for short term non sustainable gains.
Additionally we provide a profile analysis of your tenants, expected future demand requirements and existing environmental targets that they have for their business operations. This profile is then reviewed with the identified opportunities and we will then draw up selected approaches for the owner to obtain the tenant agreement and financial contribution to the targeted opportunities.

Roger Walker, Head of Sustainability has had ten years experience with property operations, restructuring and sustainable service delivery for large corporate organisations.

In addition to reviewing all reports for properties registered for the NBGhoST Program Roger closely manages each tenant profile analysis procedure to obtain maximum return to property owners.  Further, Roger can also provide advice on any existing government funding grants for the identified opportunities and consulting services for your company’s corporate social responsibility policies and programs.
Put an NBGhoST in your building now.

 NBNews:  What is NB Sustainability?

RW:          Sustainability is not only about Corporate Social Responsibility; it’s responsible financial management. 

                 Environmental and social sustainability initiatives directly impact the productivity and financial bottom line of running and occupying a property profitably; building, buying, tenanting, selling and demolishing.

                Responsible sustainability is applying the right initiative at the right time to maximise corporate and financial returns during the life cycle of a property development.

                Napier & Blakeley not only have the reputation and breadth of services to deliver this technically, their knowledge of the needs of both tenants’ and landlords’ also allows them to provide valuable strategic, positioning and portfolio priority advice.

 NBNews:  Are there differences between Tenant and Landlord Sustainability needs?

RW:          Yes.  The two perspectives are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but often opportunities are lost in the tenant and landlord relationship that could be leveraged with objective mediation.  You need to work with a partner that understands where the best returns for your investment exist.

                Owners need advice and due diligence that delivers the best market return on their property whether it’s during demolition, construction or refurbishment of existing buildings while tenants’ needs focus on their Corporate Social Responsibility commitments and maximising day to day productivity, such as energy use, recycling and staff wellbeing.

NBNews:  You recently presented at the PIR forum in Coolum.  How was your paper received?

RW:          In a forum of Property Investment Managers, the fiscal bottom line is always the top priority, and with the recent global market strain there’s no doubt that everyone there was firmly focused capital adequacy and cost.

                Some delegates saw Sustainability as something that is ‘worthy’ but low priority right now, while others understood that neglect now may reduce their opportunities in the longer term.  But the business principle for both positions is constant – “How do I maximise returns?”. 

                Sustainability is not just a ‘feel good’ initiative.  It is a cost management tool.  If you have a 4 star premises and a Government tenant requires a 5 star rating next year, you have to consider

§     how much the tenant is worth to you?

§     what options are open to you to reach a 5 star rating cost effectively? 

                Sometimes the solution is “to do nothing” and sometimes it’s a matter of applying an initiative that works for your budget and your required rating.    To ignore it completely is ignoring possible ‘pay back’ initiatives that could cost you market share.

NBNews:  Can you give me some examples of Pay Back on initiatives you’ve implemented?

RW:          The waste management recycling I put in place for Optus recycled 92% of the waste at the Macquarie Park Campus and was 5% cheaper than standard cleaning contracting/waste management services.  I was at Optus for 3 years with the same budget and was able to increase services and deliver significant reductions in emissions across our office portfolio.

NBNews:  What innovations impress you in property sustainability right now?

RW:         The focus of technologies to not only have a positive environmental impact but also a positive impact on occupant productivity impresses me. The biggest breakthrough is in lighting which for a new building can now deliver Australian Standard compliant lighting at around 5 Watts psm for office space. The solutions now exist for retrofitting lighting in existing buildings to deliver 6 watts psm without changes to the ceiling grid so paybacks are around three years and you can complete the work without disturbance to the tenant.

                The demand for reducing green house gas emissions is generating new technologies every day. Manufacturers of technologies such as nitrogen cooled computing and low energy lighting fit outs promote payback periods of less than three years. 

                 Sustainability is a perfect fit for Napier & Blakeley’s commitment to Cost Risk Return and I am looking forward to demonstrating that responsible sustainability equals responsible cost management.

“If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs. . . Yours is the earth and everything that’s in it…” …Rudyard Kipling

While markets across all industries are in a state of stress and chaos at the moment, it is now that the true industry leaders will prove themselves as they keep sight of the business fundamentals that underpin long term profitability.   Cost management is the key focus and due diligence in all business aspects is required, not just to survive but to consolidate for the future when conditions improve.  The skill is to trim the sails and stay in the race.

There are restrictions on capital funds and a degree of talk about delaying projects and cutting back on capital works programs. Environmental sustainability for some businesses has taken a back seat as recovery is worked out and debt and financing options are reviewed.

To maximise return we must continue to focus on sustainability and the opportunities to advance in this area to meet future tenant and regulatory demands.  The danger of short term cost cutting is that the long term positioning of the building can be compromised as the demand for sustainable, energy efficient and star rated buildings increases.

• The Federal Government has stated that they will be moving the minimum NABERS energy rating from the existing 4.5 to a 5 star base building rating (previously ABGR rating) for buildings they tenant. 
• The Queensland Government has stated that from 2010 they will require all new buildings to meet a 4 star minimum design standard. 
• In NSW the Government has a minimum 4 star rating and is currently moving to 4.5 stars, while making a longer term commitment to have carbon neutral operations.
• Large corporate companies are following with minimum rating requirements but at times struggle through with the low vacancy rates and limited options currently available for their space requirements.
• While most super funds currently require portfolio managers to have a sustainability platform and a policy on sustainability in place, how would the market change if the supply side moved the way the government has and required minimum performance before providing funding and investment in the property allocation of their portfolio?

Sustainability can be a key factor in Corporate Social Responsibility delivery, but strategically applied environmental sustainable initiatives can also support your fiscal and market returns with implementations such as;

• new technology E1lighting upgrades at $50psm achieving 6 watts psm comparing favourably with traditional costs of $200psm and 9 watts psm
• new technologies for data rooms including nitrogen cooled racks that remove the requirement for air cooling

The Cost, Risk and Return of sustainability is building specific. When completing due diligence for purchases or undertaking an existing portfolio review it is critical that all options available to improve the building efficiency and operating performance of your property are fully assessed to realise the true potential of your investment.

Responsible Sustainability is financial responsibility.

Napier & Blakeley has wrapped up another successfully project.

In February 2006, Napier & Blakeley was engaged by Stable and FKP to provide quantity surveying services and property tax advice for the Lifestyle Working project - a $37 million strata office development located in Brookvale, New South Wales.

Napier & Blakeley was involved in the design, documentation and tender phases this project, providing value management, tender documentation and pre-tender estimates services.

Napier & Blakeley was also engaged by St George Bank to provide Financiers’ Project Monitoring services for the project, including:

·          Project Due Diligence

·          Financier’s Risk Review and Project Monitoring

·          Progress Payment Certification

·          Practical Completion Verification

The Lifestyle Working development at 117 Old Pittwater Road provides 160 suites over 3-levels.

Lifestyle Working is also the first strata building in Australia to enter into a commitment agreement for a 5 Star Australian Building Greenhouse Rating.

The project was completed in December last year.

Green Ratings explained – why are they so important?

For a famously outdoor nation, Australians generally spend a lot of time inside buildings. We take for granted the shelter, protection, warmth, coolness, air and light that buildings provide. However we rarely give a thought to the systems that deliver these services.

Few of us understand the environmental consequences of buildings, particularly from a commercial point of view. With the ever increasing global impact on our environment, there has never been a greater need for sustainable new and existing buildings.

So, what is involved in making our buildings more ‘green’?

Firstly, let us examine the facts around buildings within an environmental context. Buildings consume 32% of the world’s resources including 12% of its water. They produce 40% of landfill waste & 40% of air emissions. In essence, buildings are responsible for consuming 40% of the world’s energy. In Australia alone, buildings produce almost 9% of the national Greenhouse gas emissions. Clearly, buildings have a significant impact on the environment.

The problem seems obvious enough. How do you reduce the amount of energy buildings consume? Is it possible to measure buildings in this regard? The answer is yes. As to how this is done, the answer is Green ratings.

Green ratings rate how well a building design will perform environmentally. For example: by using less resources over their lifespan and reducing the environmental impacts that arise from constructing, operating and demolishing buildings, the total consumption of energy by buildings can be reduced.

A number of types of “green” rating tools exist for various applications. In particular, the Green Building Council of Australia’s (GBCA) suite of tools currently address commercial offices at all phases of development.

There are, or will be, rating tools for not only different building classes, (for example, office, retail, health, etc), there will also be rating tools for the different phases of the building life cycle, including stages such as design, fit-out and operation.

Various other rating tools have evolved to assess or predict building performance against certain criteria. These range from water & energy use to waste management and occupant satisfaction.

The basic aims of the rating tools are:

·          to minimise the environmental impact of development,

·          promote resource conservation,

·          reduce energy use,

·          establish a common language and standard of measurement for green buildings.

Apart from the obvious sustainability positives, another benefit of adopting rating systems is that they promote integrated whole building design. Whole building design considers all building components during the design phase. This integrates all the subsystems and parts of the building to work together. This approach brings together building design, energy efficiency, and solar technology to boost energy savings. It also makes the most of all building elements. It reduces the amount of energy required to operate a building compared to conventional building design.

Other benefits include: identifying life cycle impacts from a building’s planning and construction phase through to its use and eventual demolition; and improving built environments, often by reducing pollutants and ensuring the quality of air and water.

While “green” design may have an initial minor cost impost (up to 3%), their implementation generates many benefits and opportunities. These might come in the form of increased available floor area, lowered life cycle costs, the provision of healthier buildings that are more enjoyable to work or live in. They can also use pleasing architectural designs to brighten up work areas, using sunlight rather than electricity, without causing glare. The overall achievement reduces the amount of energy required to operate a building compared to conventional buildings

The benefits of ‘”green” buildings are significant in terms of increased sustainability. With the ever increasing global impacts on our environment, there has never been a greater need for sustainable new and existing buildings. Green ratings and green buildings are no longer just the future of the industry - they are today’s reality.

Alternative and renewable energy sources continue to be hot dicussion topics throughout the world. Both solar and wind power are renewable energy sources that continue to attract considerable attention.

Solar Power

Located in Nevada, USA, construction of the largest solar thermal power plant to be built in the last 15 years, is nearly complete.

The 64 Megawatt Nevada Solar One power plant will generate enough power to meet the electricity needs of about 40,000 households and follows in the steps of the 354 Megawatt solar thermal power plants located in California’s Mojave Desert.

While California’s solar plants have generated billions of kilowatt hours of electricity during the past two decades, the Nevada Solar One plant will use new technologies to capture even more energy from the sun.

Wind Power

At the end of 2006, the total installed wind power capacity throughout the world was 74,223 megawatts which accounts for less than 1% of world-wide electricity use. This generation figure is up from 59,091 MW in 2005.

The countries with the highest total installed capacity are Germany , Spain, USA, India and Denmark. These installations account for approximately 20% of electricity use in Denmark, 9% in Spain, and 7% in Germany.

Generally it can be difficult to site wind turbines in many areas for aesthetic or environmental reasons, and it is also often difficult to integrate wind power into existing electricity grids in some cases.

Notwithstanding these issues, the wind energy sector has become an important player in the energy market, with the total value of new generating equipment installed in 2006 reaching approximately US$23 billion.

It is expected that the 2007 analysis will show a continuing and substantial increase over previous years.

Climate change continues to be one of the most talked about issues across the property and development industry.

One of the most important elements in the climate change debate is water. Throughout Australia, different locations experience different rates of rain fall. This can translate into considerations for building design, particularly in regards to potential ways to store water.

If you could store water, a building with a roof area of 1,000 square metres in Sydney or Brisbane could collect 1,200,000 litres of water on average per year, which is equivalent to the volumetric space of approximately 46 basement car spaces.

However, same building in Melbourne would only capture 600,000 litres, while the same building in Tully, Far North Queensland would collect 4,500,000 litres of water per annum.

Also, a 600 square metre house block in Sydney or Brisbane could collect 720,000 litres of water per annum. This is interesting as a very high average house usage of 900 litres per day would only use 328,500 per annum.

With water restrictions tightening across the eastern coast of Australia, the issue of sustainability remains at the industry forefront. Napier & Blakeley is fully qualified and experienced in the areas of green accreditation and sustainability, and can provide assistance, oversight and coordination of the asset greening process.

With a staff of over 140 across the Eastern States of Australia, Napier & Blakeley currently has in excess of $20 billion either under management or analysis.