The Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA) said that even in a global economic slowdown, the trend towards sustainable development and green building continued to gain momentum.

Experts indicated that green buildings attract better tenants, can be effectively tracked with solid performance metrics and do not always come at a premium.

One such expert was Australian consulting firm Cundall’s senior ESD consultant Marlon Kobacker, who said that green buildings attracted top tenants.

“Green buildings are future-proofed against increases in utility costs and better positioned to retain their asset value than traditional buildings. These are the buildings of the low-carbon future and there is a profit to be made in getting it right early,” Kobacker explained.

Kobacker would be attending the GBCSA’s second yearly convention and exhibition in October 2009, in Cape Town, which aimed at giving the South African commercial property industry a chance to learn from the leading green building experts and authorities worldwide.

“The convention aims to bring to South Africa the most cutting-edge thinking in green building, from both local and international specialists,” said GBCSA CEO Nicola Douglas.

Quantifiable metrics are being used increasingly overseas, said PJ Carew Consulting principal Paul Carew, adding that developers should track reduction in future utility costs and the cost impact of interventions on the overall project cost.

“It is important to get appropriate metrics in place early on, along with the financial requirements that go with them. It is also vital to communicate clearly with the design team,” Carew said.

After the development is complete, the productivity impact should be monitored, including impact on productivity and absenteeism, turnover versus salary cost and staff retention.

Carew added that when it came to green building metrics, South Africa really needed to catch up.

“Developers need to understand that green buildings are not necessarily more costly than traditional ones,” he said, addressing a common concern.

“There is nothing inherently expensive in green products. On the contrary, they typically have lower energy, resources and transport costs which contribute to lower life-cycle costs,” explained Australia’s Edge Environment director Jonas Bengtsson.

“Perhaps more significantly, green products are by definition healthier, which directly affects the life-cycle cost that really matters: productivity and wellbeing.”

He added that price was far more sensitive to quality, aesthetics and fashion trends than to greenness.

Kobacker, Carew and Bengtsson would be joined by international and local experts scheduled to speak at the convention, among them California-based John Picard of John Picard & Associates, Shaun Killa, design director at Atkins Global in Dubai, and Niall Enright, technical director of the Energy and Climate Change Group at ERM in the UK.