Green building movement makes major strides.

The movement toward sustainable design and construction still has a long way to go, but 1996 was a "green letter" year. This past year, the green building movement made major strides in persuading the mainstream real estate community that sustainable building practices can provide commercial builders with competitive business advantages.

In 1996, the announcement of two important projects in New York City helped move sustainable building practices from the abstract and theoretical into the realm of reality. First, The Durst Organization announced plans to erect a 1.6 million square foot environmentally responsible, multi-tenanted office building in the heart of Times Square. Tishman Realty & Construction will be the builder.

In a separate project involving the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Healthy Properties' Green Development Collaborative is the project manager for a special task force set up to refurbish UNEP's own modestly-sized New York City offices. The project will be in collaboration with Tishman Realty and Construction, the Business Coalition for Sustainable Cities, Gensler Associates, WMX Technologies (Recycle America), the Climate Institute, Green Seal, Levien and Company and the UN's Building Management and Catering Service.

In many ways, these projects occupy opposite ends of the commercial real estate continuum. Unlike the Times Square Building, the UNEP headquarters at 2 UN Plaza is small (about 5,000 square feet), it is not in a new building, and the rest of the building is not being renovated. Despite these important differences, many of the design, construction and maintenance issues are identical because the same basic goal underlies all sustainable building projects: to increase the productivity of all resources human, energy and material. The existence of both these projects will go a long way in persuading the mainstream building community to go green by creating public sector awareness and proving that sustainable building creates a competitive advantage.

Both New York projects will embody six basic areas of sustainable buildings: site planning and construction management; materials selection; energy planning; waste management; air quality; and design for flexibility.

According to Fox and Fowle Architects, in order to integrate the Times Square building into its surrounding landscape, the firm has designed two different facades, a relatively corporate one facing 42nd Street and a much more whimsical one facing Times Square. They believe that gas rather than electric-fired chillers will save millions of dollars in energy expenditures over time, and a combination of steel and concrete for the infrastructure instead of all steel will reduce overall "cradle-to-grave" levels of energy consumption because it takes less energy to manufacture concrete than to fabricate steel.

In addition, Fox and Fowle indicates that the building will conform to the American Society of Heating Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers' guideline requirements, which sets a standard for indoor air quality that substantially surpasses local ventilation code requirements. It will also feature separate waste disposal chutes for bottles, paper and wet garbage.

While the UNEP project involves only interiors, much care will be taken to manage the construction process so UNEP employees will be protected from construction-related contaminants and conduct business with a minimum of disruption. The UNEP Project will also use sustainable building materials, such as non-toxic paints, non-flaking ceiling tiles and recycled products, as well as ergonomic office furniture and equipment. The offices will be maintained with non-toxic cleaning products and vacuum cleaners with HEPA filters.

Though the existing energy infrastructure at 2 UN Plaza can not be altered, the UNEP offices will include sensors that turn off lights when no one is present and the installation of ultra-violet filters for windows. Because the ventilation system cannot be redesigned, HEPA filters will be installed to trap minuscule particles.

We believe these are just the first of many sustainable building projects that will soon appear in New York City. General Service Administrations at the federal, state and local levels are currently assessing how to incorporate environmentally responsible building practices into their facility construction programs. In New York, the General Services Administration is currently exploring the possibility of implementing a set of Environmentally Responsible Building Guidelines.

The future looks green for many reasons. The bottom line is the decline of upfront expenses of building for sustainability as many large manufacturers enter the market and owners learn they can offset higher upfront costs through increased energy savings. Due to pent up demand and short supply, green buildings will prove to be more valuable, command higher rents and lease up faster.