Interview with Roger Walker, National Head of NB Sustainability
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.
So where will all of this leave us in 2009 and beyond?
We are now in a Catch 22 market, which will make for an interesting year all round in property and development in Australia.
Property
There is an inordinate amount of property on the market nationally, from residential housing and apartment’s right through to large retail and commercial properties and any number of development opportunities across all sectors of the market.
The problem is credit and debt funding. Australian banks no longer have the cash funds and backing they previously had from the larger offshore investors which makes it much more difficult for them to lend causing them to adjust their lending criteria.
We are aware of a recent example where a blue chip client, with AAA rated companies and virtually no debt, was unable to secure debt finance from their banker of more than ten years to develop a commercial office building in which they would have taken more than 50% of the available space. In another development funding application of only $20m, it was suggested that the $20m be syndicated across four lenders at $5m each – unheard of in recent years.
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