by Dushyant Singh, Director, Orion One 32
Sustainable Building Practices have become the mainstay of the modern-day construction world. Green technologies are being widely used and incorporated in new-age workspaces, high-street buildings, and big-ticket commercial projects on a massive scale to attract investors and customers alike. The real estate industry is also undertaking promising steps lately to encourage the development of green office spaces and buildings for commercial use. According to a CBRE report, India’s green-certified office spaces have witnessed a tremendous rise of over 36% since 2019 which amounted to about 342 million sq ft across the top six cities in India. It demonstrates developers’ perskinety focus on creating eco-friendly spaces and commercial-use buildings. Delhi-NCR is among the top 3 green-compliant office spaces. In a more cohesive step at a pan-India level, the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (CREDAI) announced its target of bestowing green building certifications to 1 lakh homes and 25 million sq ft of commercial real estate every year to embolden developers to abide by green-compliant building norms.
Green Buildings are an outlet for energy savings. According to the study conducted by KPMG in India and Colliers, titled “Sustainable real estate: An opportunity to leverage”, carbon emissions and maintenance costs can be reduced by 36% and 20% in green buildings simultaneously. Henceforth, realtors are envisaging strong measures to develop green office spaces. They also seem not flustered about the initial prodigal costs that follow the implementation of green technologies, as it yields effective results in the long run.
The installation of solar panels and solar heating systems which harness the sun's energy and convert it into electricity, have become a proverbial reality in commercial buildings. Solar energy is a renewable energy that reduces the dependence on the power grid, cut down energy bills, and promotes energy independence. On the other hand, Cool roofs/Green roofs are also getting increasingly popular as they use natural elements such as vegetation, soil, and a waterproof membrane which is resourceful in collecting and filtering rainwater. It has multiple benefits such as cooling the roof surfaces by 30-40%, reducing the stormwater runoff rate from a roof by up to 65%, and minimizing heat flux from roof to building by up to 72%. Similarly, recycled and eco-friendly construction materials are also being progressively, like reclaimed wood, recycled plastic, and recycled steel to keep the carbon footprints and waste generation under check at construction sites.
Commercial building occupiers and investors are also approbating the new-age choices of developers to transform the way in which office and retail spaces are designed and structured. International and national brands are also strongly considering green-friendly commercial buildings for expansions and store launches. Eco-conscious commercial investors are also taking the leaf out of the same playbook and are reinspired to implement fresh and pro-green technologies to create riveting experiences for their customers.
Sustainability in real estate has not just arisen out of the compulsions of the times that we live in today, but it has become a cogent application of sustainable and eco-friendly practices that should be adopted to create modern and appealing workspaces and projects palatable to the cosmopolitan and educated customers.
