INTRODUCTION
CONTENTS
introduction
PAGES 2-3
Jane Henley, CEO, WorldGBC
INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE
4-7
Aggregate Industries Morgan Sindall Skanska
resource lIBRARY
GREEN BUILDING A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE Jane Henley
8-9
CEO, World Green Building Council
Health Productivity Learning
case studies
CONTACT US Website: www.ukgbc.org Email: info@ukgbc.org Twitter: @UKGBC Phone: 020 7580 0623
10 - 11
12 - 13
It has been estimated that about 70 per cent of the financial value associated with building green is derived from the productivity and health benefits.
UK Green Building Council The Building Centre 26 Store Street London WC1E 7BT
2 | World Green Building Week 2013
World Green Building Week brings together people in 98 countries, and more than 25,000 organisations, to showcase how we are working together to create a world of greener, better, healthier buildings. The World Green Building Council’s Business Case for Green Building report, released in March 2013, found that incorporating green building features – such as fresh air, natural light, views of the outdoors and materials low in toxins –creates healthier and more productive places for office workers. A productivity increase of up to 23 per cent, for instance, can be achieved simply through good lighting. In school environments, green building design has been found to enhance student performance, decrease student and teacher sick days, and reduce teacher turnover. One study of green schools in the United States found students progressed 26 per cent faster in reading and 20 per cent faster in maths when compared with their counterparts in non-green schools.
CAFOD Head Office, Black Architecture Elizabeth II Court, Bennetts Associates
calendar of events
A
round the world, green buildings are improving the productivity of office workers and delivering healthier workplaces for nurses and teachers. They are accelerating patient recovery rates in hospitals and boosting student test scores in schools. And they are helping homeowners to save money on energy bills while also improving their health.
And in healthcare settings, sunlight and views of nature can reduce average length of stay by up to 41 per cent, and lessen the need for pain medication by 22 per cent. The story is similar in our homes. A range of studies have underscored the connection with homes and health. Asthma sufferers have reported enjoying 63 per cent more symptomfree days after green retrofits improved the indoor environment quality of their homes. In developing nations, low-cost green retrofits have reduced the frequency of respiratory illnesses
www.ukgbc.org
www.ukgbc.org
by 76 per cent. When we consider 235 million people around the world currently suffer from asthma, green buildings have the potential to improve the health and well-being of millions of people. For more than a decade, we’ve been showing the world how green buildings can reduce energy costs, cut greenhouse gas emissions and deliver better quality assets on conventional budgets. Motivations to build green are shifting from being simply the right thing to do to being about the operational cost savings that green buildings deliver. This means that, on the balance sheet, assets must have a positive relationship with the income statement through rent, occupancy and productivity. Although surveys show that owners have high expectations of how these assets are going to deliver better performance, 37 per cent don’t track any metrics, and only 26 per cent review performance on an ongoing basis. When data is tracked, it is mostly energy data, but this is only estimated to be about 10 per cent of the possible financial benefit of being in a green building. But without good quality data, what is an investor to do? Focus on what they can measure, monitor, quantify and monetise. And that’s why a focus on energy performance makes sense to investors. However, it has been estimated that about 70 per cent of the financial value associated with building green is derived from the productivity and health benefits. If this figure is so high, then why are we not monetising this to make the case for green building a simple no-brainer? Whether they are skyscrapers or schools, homes or hospitals, green buildings are making people’s lives better. That’s our message during our fourth annual World Green Building Week – and we look forward to working with the green building movement in the UK to accelerate this shift to greener, better, healthier buildings. Visit the WorldGBC website. World Green Building Week 2013 | 3