The Green Advantage

Last evening PSFK attended a panel discussion sponsored by Carnegie Textiles and Multi-Housing News that covered the trend of green design impacting current residential construction. The panel included Tim Button of Stedila Design, Inc. who collaborated on the Solaire residential tower. Pamela Lippe of E4 Inc. who is currently consulting with Bank of America of their new tower in Times Square.  John Renner of Connecticut architectural firm Becker and Becker. and Michael Gulick of Gulick Associates. The panel discussion took place at the Carnegie Showroom.

The panel agreed that green/sustainable design and construction practices in the residential market are more inconsistent than the commercial building world at this time. That is largely due to the growing standardization of criteria in commercial buildings. LEED is a major driver of change in that it represents a set of standards and benchmarks to implement into new design and construction. The panel felt that significant change is taking place in the residential market and in the next 5-10 years it will be far more common.

Developers are surprisingly more likely to commit to building green buildings for rental at this time than condo units that are for sale. The reason being the high percentage of new owners will likely rip out and rebuild more to their taste. So current for sale green projects include more attention to design and material and finish selection to encourage the new owners to keep what is there.

On the topic of marketing value of a green building, Tim Button spoke of a survey completed by residents at a newly completed green project that asked them to rate all the amenities in the building in order of importance including the green design. Most tenants returned high rating for typical services like the gym or  pool but he mentioned that a core group really chose to live there based on the environmental consideration given to the building. The panel agreed that this trend will grow as local standards become more strict and energy costs dictate rethinking maximizing energy efficiency.