Page 134 - Green Building Through Integrated Design

PUBLIC RELATIONS AND MARKETING 111

and building owners and managers have long recognized the marketing and public
relations benefits (including branding) of a demonstrated concern for the environment.
Green buildings fit right in with this message. As a result, I expect to see a growing
number of major commitments by corporate real estate executives to green their build-
ings and facilities. A good example is Adobe Systems, Inc., a major software maker
based in San Jose, California. In 2006, Adobe announced that it had received three
LEED-EB Platinum awards for its headquarters towers; not only did it reap great pub-
licity, but the firm showed that the investments as a whole had benefits with a net pres-
ent value almost 20 times their initial cost.*
Many larger public and private organizations have well-articulated sustainability
mission statements and are understanding how their real estate choices can both reflect
and advance those missions. For example, in 2007 the world’s largest property developer
CB Richard Ellis committed to certify more than 100 properties under the LEED-EB
standard. Developer Jonathan F. P. Rose notes that “having a socially and environ-
mentally motivated mission makes it easier for businesses in the real estate industry to
recruit and retain top talent. Communities are more likely to support green projects
than traditional projects, and it is easier for such projects to qualify for many government
contracts, subsidies, grants, and tax credits. The real estate industry can prosper by
making environmentally responsible decisions.” †
Green buildings also reinforce a company’s brand image. A consumer retailer such
as Wal-Mart, Kohl’s, Office Depot, Best Buy, Starbucks, or PNC Bank can improve
or maintain their brand image by being associated with green buildings, and so they
‡
are moving in this direction. Large corporations, including those that issue sustain-
ability reports every year or two—in 2007, there were more than 1200 of them
according to the Global Reporting Initiative—see the benefits of building green to
demonstrate to their employees, shareholders, and other stakeholders that they are
“walking the talk.”

MORE COMPETITIVE PRODUCT
Speculative developers are realizing that green buildings can be more competitive in
certain markets, if built at or near a conventional budget. This puts the onus on the
design and construction team to figure out how to build LEED Silver or better build-
ings without adding significant costs. Green buildings with lower operating costs and
better indoor environmental quality are more attractive to a growing group of corpo-
rate, public, and individual buyers. Green-ness will not soon replace known real-estate
attributes such as price, location, and conventional amenities, but green features will
increasingly enter into tenants’decisions about leasing space and into buyers’decisions
about purchasing properties and homes. It’s noteworthy that the largest commercial real

*U.S. Green Building Council [online] www.usgbc.org/News/PressReleaseDetails.aspx?ID=2783, accessed
March 6, 2007.
† “The Business Case for Green Building,” Urban Land, June 2005, p. 71; www.uli.org, accessed April 30, 2008.
‡ For example, PNC Bank has committed to making all of its new branches LEED-certified, at least at the basic
level.