Green buildings – The need of the hour

Photo Credits: Green Buildings – The Need of the hour_1_2

STORY FOR REAL ESTATE JACKET Pics: Courtesy Milroc

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Goa is on the cusp of a huge change in the construction space. On one hand, people are realising the importance of being environment-friendly while buying real-estate. And, on the other hand, it takes a lot of effort and money on the part of the builder as well as the buyer to make a certain building really 'green'.

But, before going any further, it must be made clear that a green building doesn’t necessarily mean just gardens and lawns in a certain project. Bharat Kamat, co-chair, Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), Goa Chapter, said, “The concept of green building is about the entire life-cycle of a project. It includes everything from the project site, area covered by the building, how much is paved, and the area demarcated as shade area, etc, before rating a building green.”

IGBC is national level body and is a part of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Kamat added, “One of the most important things is you can’t buy material for construction beyond the radius of 400 kilometres if you want your building to be certified green because that exerts pressure on the environment. It also promotes the local industry if you buy material from areas near the site of construction.”

In other words, a holistic approach towards making your building environment-friendly makes a building green, and not just gardens and lawns, although they are welcome part of any project. It also means that people can no longer import marbles from faraway parts, which had become a sort of norm in premium projects.

Milroc has taken a lot of initiative to make its Milroc Kadamba project a 'green' initiative. KulaSekhar, designated partner, Milroc, said, “We are using solar energy at this project to provide water-heating for all 400 flats. Solar power is being tapped for common lighting as well. We have also paid a lot of attention on rainwater harvesting also.”

KulaSekhar continued, “There are two ways of rainwater harvesting. One is by storing rain water in an underground tank. The other method is when by recharging the ground water table by building a large soaking pit for rainwater. At Milroc Kadamba, we use both these methods.”

All this is over and above minute attention Milroc has paid to the layout of open spaces at its Kadamba project so that residents can get ample view of greenery from their apartments. But, it takes good amount of money to make a building green.

KulaSekhar informed, “We invested Rs 1.2 crore on the sewage treatment plant (STP) at our Kadamba project. And, this is just the initial capital cost as it doesn’t include day-to-day operational expenses. Water recycled through this plant is used for gardens and car wash.”

A green project definitely requires a higher initial investment, but the benefits of doing this are paid off only in the long run. Rohit Gera, managing director, Gera Developments, said, “Our experience shows that the end consumer isn’t willing to pay anything extra for a green building. Of course, if all customers were to tell builders that they would buy real estate only in a green building, then all builders will go for it.”

Gera cited the example of his commercial project in Mala called ‘Gera Imperium Green’. He said, “We set up a STP in the building even though it’s an office building. We did a dual plumbing system so that water gets recycled and our overall water consumption is 67 per cent less. All common areas have LED lights, which are expensive, but consume less power.”

However, Gera added that consumers aren’t really willing to pay premium for an office space which is green. Gera’s experience assumes significance if read along with Kamat’s comment as he said, “While rating a building green, we even check the energy rating of appliances fitted by consumers and these must be rated by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency.”

This clearly shows that for a building to be really called green or environment friendly, a lot depends upon consumers as well. Consumers have to realize that green buildings through LED lights or other initiatives save power, but the benefit of that will only happen over a period of time.

Gera added, “You will often see people willing to pay a huge premium for a swimming pool even when you tell them that the project is in a water-deficient place. But, they aren’t willing to pay extra for green building.”

Then, there are also misconceptions that it is very difficult to make green buildings in congested city areas, where floor-area-ratio (FAR) is high and builders are over-eager to use it.

More than FAR, what is important is how many floors a builder can build. A responsible builder can build an extra floor, provided he has permission for it, and keep some part of the plot for green cover even in city areas.

It also depends upon what kind of concrete was used for construction. Concrete made at site results in a lot of dust pollution. To avoid this, few builders buy ready-mix-concrete (RMC), which is more expensive than the other way of making concrete.

Fortunately, for builders, buyers are willing to pay a premium for solar water heating, as its benefit translates into a lower power bill in a short period.

But, for the initiative of green building to really become successful, it is a must that governments – both Central and State – incentivise making such buildings. As of now, not much has happened in Goa or in larger India in this direction.

And, for this, state government of Goa shouldn’t wait for the central government because the ecology of every state is different. Policy for green buildings should be formulated given the ecological balance of Goa.

More than anything else, the state government is the biggest builder itself. It can take a huge initiative by going green on its own projects, which will also serve as an example to the entire community of real estate developers and buyers.