Q1: Could you tell us what triggered you to get involved in green building (sustainable property) in the present position?

A1: I am a researcher and as a researcher I am interested in everything that impacts or affects the market.? I recently learned that green issues were affecting the market and decided to explore deeper into this issue.? From a business perspective, it was already clear that there was a big market in responsible equity investment and as such we were keen to explore the business potential for responsible investment in the real estate market.? Within the company, there was much debate between the construction professionals (engineers) and the fund managers on the topic of responsible investments in the real estate market.? In the debates, the construction professionals argued for green technology while the fund managers asked about the financial justification.? I had hoped that my research of green issues in the real estate market would provide information to such debates, and thus I became involved in green building.

Q2: What do you consider to be the biggest challenge to create and expand the green building market? Tell us what you think the possible solutions are and what direction should be taken.

A2: The greatest challenge in green building, I believe, is the alignment of business interests with social interests. If it can be shown that managing a real estate portfolio in a responsible way enhances its financial performance then business logic will drive the green agenda forward. There are early signs that that logic is taking shape. Clearly, policymakers have the potential to develop policies that could impact the operation of the market to ensure, the alignment of business perspectives and social perspectives would be achieved sooner rather than later. In that process, education and information on green building are hugely important.

Q3: In the presentation at the 17th Annual International Land Policy Forum, you emphasized the importance of the refurbishment of the existing stock. Could you tell us the reason for this focus?

A3: The reason is quite simple. The main issue here is not making small additions of environmentally friendly stock but, rather, it is how we should deal with the overwhelming number of buildings in the existing stock. Responsible property investors tend to look only at new development. However, this represents only one small corner of the real estate market and such investments tend to entail high risks. Instead, the more traditional approach of refurbishing existing stock would have a potentially greater impact more quickly on carbon emissions and entail fewer risks. Although it has its place, a sole focus on new developments is the ‘slow lane’ to carbon mitigation and merely postpones the addressing of the overall problem. We should focus our efforts with respect to mitigating our carbon (CO2) emissions by making our existing stock more environmentally friendly buildings. We might not make them ‘green’ buildings but by making them ‘less brown’, we will have made a valuable contribution.

(October 28, 2010)