Sustainable Designs expensive but worth it: Developer Interview
ABC Online
Sustainable designs expensive but worth it: developer
ELEANOR HALL: In the last week, the Federal Government has granted millions of dollars to help fund projects aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and finding solutions to global warming.
Sceptics say it’s primarily a political exercise and that it’ll be years and, in some cases, decades before the projects have any impact.
But a property developer in Sydney is putting his money on the line right now to design and build green office blocks.
The World Today’s Emily Bourke caught up with him on one of his construction sites.
EMILY BOURKE: Michael Mobbs describes himself as a “sustainability coach”.
For the last decade he’s been encouraging and arguing with developers, engineers and architects over how they can make their buildings greener.
His latest project is Building K in the heart of Sydney’s salubrious Double Bay.
From the outside, the construction work suggests it could be like any other modern low-rise office block, but Michael Mobbs says the green design features set it apart from most retail and office spaces in the country.
MICHAEL MOBBS: We’re standing on the first floor. Notice how there’s light all the way around? The building has been designed so that for most of the year, for most of the day, people can walk into their office and not turn a light on, and use what’s for free.
Looking out here to the north, the east and the west, you see that there are these breaks in the wall. That’s called a light-shelf. So the sun hits that, and bounces in right to the back of the building.
So we should be able to get direct sunlight about 15 or 20 meters away from the edge of the building.
EMILY BOURKE: Are you at all concerned about radiant heat?
MICHAEL MOBBS: I am. The glass is a great glass – it’s designed to exclude the radiant heat and to let the light in.
The aim is, if people choose to use the building well, they’re here free. If they choose to turn the air-con on, then they pay for it.
EMILY BOURKE: Are you passing on the costs of this presumably very expensive building onto those tenants?
MICHAEL MOBBS: We are achieving a high rental, but the true costs are the environmental penalties that the developers had to pay are not reflected in rents.
EMILY BOURKE: From the roof to the basement, the site claims to have the simplest and most energy efficient designs, especially with its water management.
MICHAEL MOBBS: In this part of Sydney about 1,100 litres of water falls on every square metre. Business as usual, you would have seen about half a million litres of water run off this roof into the Harbour.
And about 700,000 litres of water brought from over the Mountains, Shoalhaven to this, you know, 160, 180 kilometres.
We are disconnected from mains water and sewage. And we will make all our water from the roof here, and all our sewage will be reused to flush the toilets and to irrigate the garden.
EMILY BOURKE: What if it doesn’t rain?
MICHAEL MOBBS: The developer keeps on asking me that, and it’s a question that becomes more and more relevant as less and less rain falls.
We will do what is done everywhere, we will just order a water cart when that happens. The computer modelling worst case scenario shows that we might need to top-up once every five years or so, at most, and probably with about 5,000 or 10,000 litres of water.
EMILY BOURKE: The owner and developer of the project is Lesli Berger
LESLI BERGER: It’s really come about as a result of personal conviction. We’re a family business. I work with my father, he’s been in the property industry for over 30 years, and we thought it was time to give something back to the community.
EMILY BOURKE: How much has it cost you to buy and then develop it?
LESLI BERGER: It cost us just under $10 million to purchase the site. There was very fierce bidding.
The total construction costs were approximately $5 million. Out of that $5 million about half-a-million was directly attributable to the environmental systems we’ve employed.
Energy Australia have cost us at least another $700,000 and the Council is going to cost us another $1.3 million.
So the development taxes on this project are enormous. That adds up to $2.5 million, so 50 per cent development taxes.
EMILY BOURKE: Why did you persist then?
LESLI BERGER: It’s just the way we are. We never give up, never ever give up. We persevere no matter what, and we’ll get there.
We’re definitely not going to lose money, which is always the thing that my father told me. He said, “You can do what you like, but don’t lose money”.
But we’re definitely not going to make a normal development profit on this project.
ELEANOR HALL: Sydney property developer Lesli Berger ending that report by Emily Bourke.
The World Today – Friday, 3 November , 2006
Reporter: Emily Bourke