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Proceedings of International Research Conference on Sustainability in Built Environment, Organised byCommonwealth Association of Surveyors and Land Economist, Columbia, Sri Lanka, 18th and 19th June,2010, pp 166-178. 2010 PERCEPTUAL ANALYSIS OF THE BENEFITS AND IMPLEMENTATIONDIFFICULTIES OF GREEN BUILDING IN LAGOS METROPOLIS, NIGERIA By 1 Timothy Tunde Oladokun 2 Job Taiwo Gbadegesin and 3 Olusegun A. Ogunba Department of Estate Management,Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Nigeria.Contact author:
[email protected] Tel: +234 (0) 8023152198, 7030060097 Abstract While buildings and development provide countless benefits to society, they also have significant negativeenvironmental impacts. To address this problem, green or sustainable buildings have been advocated in developed countries as these have less toxic materials and consume natural renewable resources with focus on environmentalsustainability. The paper examines perceptions of the prospects and implementation difficulties of the introduction of green buildings in Nigeria. Questionnaires were distributed to 50 purposively selected property developers and 250tenants in Lagos metropolis that were conveniently selected on the basis of who is willing to respond. With a successrate of 68%, the study adopted the descriptive method of analysis of frequency count, mean, median, standard deviationand proportion method. The findings showed that developers and tenants are of the opinion that green buildings would be desirable for the future, but not for present day investors and prospective tenants in Nigeria since they are not awareof any benefits derivable therefrom. The paper concluded that awareness campaigns should be instituted to enable the populace gain an appreciation of the negative impacts of buildings as currently constructed, and of the potentialenvironmental and commercial benefits of green buildings Key words: Green building, sustainable building, high performance building, Perception. 1.0 Background to the Study Building structures are main assets of human beings. Every household, organisations and governments at alllevels invest in building construction and development to house and accommodate themselves, businessesor as a social responsibility to the electorates. There are therefore small and large buildings within citiesaround the world to accommodate intense, even explosive growth of human activities and uses.Buildings are used for a variety of uses. Prominent uses include residential, commercial and industrial uses.Residential use purely provides accommodation for living; commercial uses can be office, shops and othertrading premises; while industrial uses are factories, warehouse accommodation for production andassemblage purposes. These uses are directed towards satisfying basic human needs of food, shelter andclothing. These uses are often subject to regulations of different nature to enable its production and useconform to human needs.Regardless of the type, size and use as well as statutory regulations, buildings often have a significantnegative impact on the natural environment. While buildings and development provide countless benefits tosociety, they also have significant environmental impacts (EPA, 2004). The National Building Museum’s Proceedings of International Research Conference on Sustainability in Built Environment, Organised byCommonwealth Association of Surveyors and Land Economist, Columbia, Sri Lanka, 18th and 19th June,2010, pp 166-178. 2010 introduction to its “Big & Green: Toward Sustainable Architecture in the 21 st Century” exhibit, states that“(T)hese structures consume enormous amounts of energy in their construction and day-to-day use, placegreat burdens on water and sewer systems, and typically isolate occupants from natural light and air.”According to the author, smaller buildings, are also known to have similar impact on the environment andoccupant health. In fact, according to EPA, homes and offices use an estimated 36 billion gallons of waterper day (The City of New York’s water consumption is 1.2 billion gallons a day, on average, according toNew York City DEP) and it is estimated that the construction, renovation, and demolition of buildings,generates 136 million tons of debris per year. EPA also notes that on average, Americans spend 90 percentor more of their time indoors. This also calls for equal concern for the quality of indoor air as a means of eliminating and/or reducing its negative impact on human health and the environment.These impacts can be reduced through the use of sustainable or green building principles, such as low VOC(volatile organic compounds) paints, use of energy star appliances, water saving technologies anddeconstruction and reuse strategies (Monica, 2007; EPA, 2004). According to the authors, building is greenwhen it reduces exposure to noxious materials, conserves non-renewable energy and scarce materials,minimises the life-cycle ecological impact of energy and materials and uses renewable energy andsustainable materials. The “green building” concept, according to Strawman (2007) incorporates, bothindividually and holistically, a series of practices in the design and construction of buildings and theirassociated landscapes that serve to minimize adverse impacts to the environment and to building occupants.The goal is to have buildings that will be environmentally friendly from its design to the end of its usefullife. To achieve this, sustainable assets management is required.The concept and practices of green building and sustainable assets management practice are well embracedin the developed countries of USA and European countries. The movement for the adoption of greenbuilding is advocated by developers, investors and real estate brokers. The government also is not left behindin this quest to find lasting solution to the environmental and health impact of building activities. Theenactment of relevant laws as well as the establishment of appropriate agencies like the LEED and EnergyStar rating certification of green buildings are evidence of its acceptance in the western world. The practiceamong others may benefit from available grants and subsidies through increasing energy efficiency andlessening greenhouse gas emissions; improve business productivity of their tenants, affecting churn,renewals, inducements and fitting-out costs; and benefit occupants to a degree that may exceed the underlying asset's value. Against this background, this paper examines the perceptions of stakeholders in the built environment to the benefits and implementation difficulties of theintroduction of green building in Nigeria. Proceedings of International Research Conference on Sustainability in Built Environment, Organised byCommonwealth Association of Surveyors and Land Economist, Columbia, Sri Lanka, 18th and 19th June,2010, pp 166-178. 2010 The paper focuses on issues such as providing insight into the degree of awareness of and the level of preparedness of Nigerian real estate industry for green buildings. The expectation of the stakeholders to theaccruable benefits of green buildings to the investors, the owner and the occupants, whether there is value inembracing the green buildings, how best to structure the implementation of green buildings and how best tomake the green buildings workable and acceptable to all stakeholders. These are some of the constructivequestions that each tenant and investor in the study area will need to answer. This paper aims to explore theadequacy of the response of real estate investor and occupants to green buildings challenges and benefits.The paper will draw out implications and suggestions that would be useful to real estate investors, occupantsand agents in the drive towards environmental preservation and sustainability. 2.0 Basic Ideas of Green Building In spite of its newness in the industry, Green building is a subject of many interpretations. The fact that it isclosely related to the concept of sustainable development makes it share common features with the conceptof sustainable development. Sustainable development has been defined by Brundtland (1987) asdevelopment that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations tomeet their own needs. It is a building which is an environmentally friendly and socially and economicallyviable from design to the end of its useful life (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987,Cassidy, 2003. Okpoechi, 2004, and Etim, 2004).Green building is embraced to prevent the negative impacts of buildings and structures on the builtenvironment. These impacts are felt in four broad areas as contained in Table 1. First, impacts related to theaspects of built environment include siting, design, construction, operation, maintenance and renovation.Second, the impact is in form of the consumption of energy, water, materials and natural resources. Third,building generates environmental effects such as waste, air pollution, water pollution, indoor pollution, heatislands, stormwater runoff and noise. Lastly, the ultimate effects of building activities result in being harmfulto human health, environment degradation and loss of resources. According to Monica (2007), building isgreen when it reduces exposure to noxious materials, conserves non-renewable energy and scarce materials,minimises the life-cycle ecological impact of energy and materials and uses renewable energy andsustainable materials.Green building, which is the practice of creating structures and using processes that are environmentallyresponsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle from siting to design, construction,operation, maintenance, renovation and deconstruction becomes the preferred solution. This practiceexpands and complements the classical building design concerns of economy, utility, durability, andcomfort. Green building is also known as a sustainable or high performance building. A LEED certified Proceedings of International Research Conference on Sustainability in Built Environment, Organised byCommonwealth Association of Surveyors and Land Economist, Columbia, Sri Lanka, 18th and 19th June,2010, pp 166-178. 2010 building in the USA is adjudged to have satisfied five key areas of human and environmental healthstandards: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, material selection and indoorenvironmental quality. Table 1: Impacts of the built environment:Aspects of Built Environment: Consumption: Environmental Effects: Ultimate Effects : SitingDesignConstructionOperationMaintenanceRenovationDeconstructionEnergyWaterMaterialsNaturalResourcesWasteir pollutionWater pollutionIndoor pollutionHeat islandsStormwater runoff NoiseHarm to Human HealthEnvironment DegradationLoss of Resources Green buildings are designed to reduce the overall impact of the built environment on human health and thenatural environment by: • Efficiently using energy, water, and other resources • Protecting occupant health and improving employee productivity • Reducing waste, pollution and environmental degradationFor example, green buildings may incorporate sustainable materials in their construction (e.g., reused,recycled-content, or made from renewable resources); create healthy indoor environments with minimalpollutants (e.g., reduced product emissions); and/or feature landscaping that reduces water usage (e.g., byusing native plants that survive without extra watering). 3.0 Prospects /Benefits of Green Buildings Many reasons have been proffered as potentially requiring the need for building green especially bydevelopers and builders in the USA who are leading the movement towards green building . Past works of Russo and Fourt, 1987, Hart, 1995, Margretta, 1997, Leaman, 1999, Baier, 1999, Robinson, 2005, CoreNet,2008, Heerwagen, 2000 and RICS (2010) documented a number of potential benefits that green buildingconfers on the occupants and the environment. Prominent are:1) Green buildings are more readily leased; That is, the fact that the design, features and allcomponents of green buildings are environmentally friendly attracts high demand for it. Prospectivetenants are easily convinced of the less toxic nature of the materials and energy saving costs features of Proceedings of International Research Conference on Sustainability in Built Environment, Organised byCommonwealth Association of Surveyors and Land Economist, Columbia, Sri Lanka, 18th and 19th June,2010, pp 166-178. 2010 such effective demand for green buildings. This results easily in high preference for green buildingsrelative to the traditional buildings. Introducing green buildings into the Nigerian market, will enhanceproperty liquidity and prevent loss of income to investors, some of who utilise borrowed fund forinvestment (Baier, 1999).2) Command higher rents; Sustainability can translate into an enhancement of building value and salesprices. Green buildings customarily have quicker absorptions of tenants (lease-up times). Greenbuildings tend to have higher lease rates, better tenant retention and less turnover.3) Have higher tenants retention rates. This is because tenants are often convinced of the need tocontinue in the occupation of a building where they have sustained level of productivity. Theproductivity benefits are estimate to be as ten times the energy savings from green building efforts(Miller et al., 2006). These benefits according to the author come in the form of lower absenteeism,fewer headaches at work, greater retail sales and easier reconfiguration of space resulting in lossdowntime and lower costs. The implication is that tenants are willing to continue in occupation for aslong as profitability is sustained; a benefit offered by green buildings.4) Green buildings generally enjoy lower operating costs. This results from the use of natural resources,Energy is sourced from sunlight for cooling, heating and other services. This results in lower cost of energy. Water consumption cost is reduced also as main dependence is on natural resources. With theadoption of green buildings, operating costs of businesses are drastically reduced with its attendant effecton increased productivity (Robinson, 2005) .5) Green building improves productivity of their occupants. The reduction in health hazard that is offeredenables comfort and enhances productivity. Tenants will expect a better performing, highly efficientbuilding or they won’t want to be there (Leaman, 1999).Table 2 summarises the key benefits of green building. Such includes claim that green buildings will saveenergy (often very substantial amounts), increase service-worker productivity and decrease absenteeism,increase valuation, lower cap rates, decrease operating expenses and even command increased rental rates.Some of the claims for green buildings are truly striking, such as the assertion that putting up a greenbuilding certified with a particular rating system will decrease the incidence of asthma, or that increasednatural light and access to views will result in better student performance. This is thus graphicallyrepresented in Figure 1.
