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.
Responsible Sustainability
“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.
