Page 227 - The Green Building Bottom Line The Real Cost of Sustainable Building

REALIZING THE VALUE OF GREEN FOR KEY USERS 205

Lower Common Area Costs Over Time
We believe long-term deterioration of the building—mechanical and electrical sys-
tems particularly—is reduced through sustainable design and materials. As a result,
costs passed on to the tenant for maintaining the building will be less from initial
occupancy, and savings will grow over time. A 5 percent improvement in maintenance
costs—a conservative estimate based on our own experience—would reduce expenses
by $0.33 per square foot annually. It’s worth noting that, over time, the value of these
savings over a conventional building become greater due to compounding.

Lower Reconfiguration Cost
The cost of reconfiguring office space may be substantially lower. As an option, we offer
the incentive of an additional tenant improvement allowance to encourage a tenant to con-
struct its office build-out to LEED Commercial Interiors standards. We estimate that in
doing so, the cost of changing office configurations in the future could be reduced from a
national average of $2,500 per employee to as little as $200 per employee. Use of more
expensive carpet tile in the initial build-out, for instance, enables the landlord and tenant
to replace only worn-out areas rather than full runs of flooring. The inclusion of motion
sensors for lighting extends the life of bulbs and fixtures. Raised flooring reduces air con-
ditioning and wiring costs. It is our belief that additional cost savings will be realized
through the integrated design of interior and exterior elements if both landlord and tenant
are pursuing similarly guided design principles. In the analysis of the financial benefits of
tenanting green, we have not factored in these particular cost savings since the option con-
tains too many variables. But it is another area of potential cost savings.

INDIRECT COST SAVINGS
Relative to current alternatives, the Birmingham Federal Reserve & Tower Project
contemplates indirect cost savings for tenants from reduced absenteeism, reduced
health claims, and reduced turnover. A move to a green building is a real and tangible
investment in the well being of a tenant’s employees.

Reduced Absenteeism
Improved daylight conditions, better thermal comfort, and lower airborne allergens:
These and other features built into the project do translate into hard cost savings for
tenants. For example, at the Internationale Nederlanden (ING) Bank in Amsterdam,
worker absenteeism fell 15 percent after a move to a sustainable office. The importance
of reduced absenteeism is magnified when a tenant’s business model is based on the
leveraging of administrative staff. If, for example, one support staff member for a group
of three lawyers is absent, three professionals’ work product is negatively impacted.
As a conservative estimate, we assume absenteeism is reduced by one day a year for
every employee in a green building.

Reduced Health Claims
On average, Americans spend more than 90 percent of their time indoors, and accord-
ing to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, quality of indoor air is, on average,