Devin Saylor, Colliers International - Green Building Industry grew by 85%

Source: eKapija Tuesday, 23.11.2010. 16:16
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Devin SaylorDevin Saylor

Colliers International organizes a course in Belgrade, between November 29 and December 2, at which the attendants will learn everything they should know to become qualified experts in the field of green building, including the costs and benefits of green building, the LEED certification process, and the basics of the LEED concept in regard to the building development, water consumption, energy efficiency, building materials and the quality of environment.

The lecturer is Devin Saylor, a qualified and experienced accredited LEED expert from Colliers International. All participants will receive the course attendance certificates upon the end of the course.

In an interview for eKapija, Devin Saylor speaks about green building and green building certification.

eKapija: What is Green Building?

The green building industry originated to address the impact our buildings have on the environment. According to the Center for Resource Solutions, European Buildings account for approximately 50% of greenhouse gas emissions, 45% of energy and electricity consumption, 40% of raw materials use, 20% of construction or demolition debris in landfills, 17% of potable water use.

Since 2005, the green building industry has grown almost 85% from a $10 billion to a $60 billion market. However, the green building industry is still considered to be in its infancy and is expected to continue to grow exponentially.

Devin SaylorDevin Saylor

eKapija: What is Green Building Certification?

A green building rating system, also known as green building certification, serves to provide a standard against which buildings with different levels of environmental design and efficiency can be compared. The leading green building rating systems, especially in Europe, are the UK Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM), U.S Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) and the German Sustainable Certificate (DGNB).

Pike Research forecasts that green building certification programs will certify a cumulative 50 million net square meters of floorspace by 2020. And, worldwide, the amount of square meters of certified green building space will increase 780 percent, from approximately 6 million square meters in 2010 to 53 million square feet in 2020.

eKapija: Who Should Learn About Green Building and Green Building Certification?

Green building knowledge is important for anyone who works in the building industry. That is why Colliers International started to conduct trainings and classes throughout South East Europe. Green building is not a fad and is not going away anytime soon, evidenced by the growth in the number of registered and certified buildings. Typically, classes consist of architects, engineers, contractors, project managers, developers, building owners, product manufacturers, energy and utility employees, government officials and facility managers.

eKapija: What Topics Does The Upcoming Class Cover That you Are Teaching Through Colliers International?

Devin SaylorDevin Saylor

The class will cover a wide variety of topics related to green building such as concepts and terms, costs and benefits, green building certification and major international rating systems. The majority of class will be focused on looking at the specific categories and credits that make up a rating system. For this, we will discuss the most widely recognized rating system, LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. The major categories discussed will be sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor environmental quality, innovation and design and regional priorities.

eKapija: What are the key benefits of Green Buildings?

The economic and financial benefits of green buildings are many. For developers and building owners, studies show that green buildings command higher rents, transact at higher prices, enjoy higher occupancy rates, have lower operating expenses, attract free marketing and publicity and protect the building’s future value.

For tenants, benefits include greater worker productivity, healthier building occupants, lower occupancy costs (reduced energy/electricity, water and solid waste usage), improved corporate image, reduced costs in moving/relocating space.

Surprisingly, studies are proving that there are huge economic savings attached to greater worker productivity, reduced absenteeism and decreased employee turnover. In fact, these benefits are likely to translate into the greatest savings for tenants and companies, as people, in the form of salaries, benefits and replacement costs, represent 70-80% of operating costs, much more substantial than energy (1%) and rent (5%) costs.

ekapija: Are Green Building Certifications Just For New Construction?

The first rating system was for new construction projects. However, new construction only represents anywhere from 1-2% of our total building stock. If we really want to achieve environmental goals on a large scale then a rating system is needed to evaluate our existing buildings. Since there are many variations within our building projects for both new construction and existing buildings, we needed rating systems to accommodate these differences. There are many rating systems currently available or under development like new construction and existing buildings for office and commercial, retail, multi family, single family, building interiors, core and shell, schools and mixed use projects.

eKapija: What is a Green Building Council? Is There One in Serbia?

Green Building Councils serve as forums for all building industry related professionals to learn about green building, share their green knowledge and interact with other “green” professionals. To further demonstrate the future importance of green certified buildings, Serbia will have a Green Building Council here in Belgrade! The launch event will be Monday November 22, 2010.

Devin Saylor has more than 15 years of real estate development and finance. Her experience with LEED began in the U.S where she was involved in the development of a high density mixed use project that was selected as one of 250 projects to participate in the pilot program for the LEED Neighborhood Development (ND) rating system. Subsequently, she launched a sustainable consulting practice to help projects achieve LEED and green building certification. She has been actively involved in the U.S Green Building Council Chapters in Los Angeles, New York City and Northern California. Ms. Saylor began her career in real estate with Arthur Andersen where she helped start the Real Estate Services Group in Hong Kong. She holds a Masters degree from the University of Southern California in Real Estate Development and Urban Planning.

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