At the design/development stage many developers of office buildings are focused on minimum compliance in order to keep their costs down. They are also aware that some decisions might be justified on a life cycle basis but they are concerned that while they may bear the initial cost of energy saving initiatives, the future owner or tenant may not put a value on them. This situation damages the viability of the project. There is clearly a lot of communication of the benefits required to overcome this problem.
But be careful about taking short cuts at the design stage. The results will show up later in the NABERS rating which is based on actual energy consumption. It is a realty check. If a new building doesn’t reach expectations the tenants and owners will be looking for redress!
Winter-Spring 2009
