Rachel’s Blogs

It’s well documented that the working environment within an office can have profound effects on an employee’s efficiency – and that adding plants to a working environment can boost productivity and reduce stress.

The same has been said for the introduction of natural light.

When you put two and two together you would think that more companies would leverage on this particularly hassle-free and low cost tool.

Well, more are indeed looking at the option.

And more firms are also looking at sustainable ways of constructing and retrofitting their buildings.

This is not just to cut energy costs. Some companies are indeed looking further down the road – at the longer term potential and attractiveness of the building, or what investors – tenants and future buyers might be attracted to.

And the one word that keeps creeping up is SUSTAINABILITY!

Whether it’s in the type of lights, air conditioning system or building materials.

And is it any wonder why? I mean look at the European Union today for example – it’s just begun a three year effort to phase out energy guzzling light bulbs…. And it is only a matter of time before most economies catch on to the trend.

Doesn’t it make sense now to be investing in green technologies for buildings?

For today’s Eco Ventures I went down and had a look at 71 Robinson Road – an “ecologically designed building”.

It has a number of recycled fittings such as ceiling boards, partition walls and drains.

And along with various technical gadgets, it also implements simple efforts such as full height glass windows to maximize day light in the office.

Commerz Real, the money behind the building, says that while some tenants may be apprehensive of the higher rentals of green buildings, energy and cost savings help to offset this.

And as more buildings go green and construction and costs of implementing green technologies become lower going forward, perhaps rentals for such buildings may also trend downwards.

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