{"id":1004212236,"date":"2017-02-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-02-21T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/cpe-uncategorized\/why-healthy-buildings-should-be-a-big-thing-on-the-cre-agenda\/1004212236.html"},"modified":"2022-12-08T20:39:53","modified_gmt":"2022-12-09T04:39:53","slug":"why-healthy-buildings-should-be-a-big-thing-on-the-cre-agenda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/why-healthy-buildings-should-be-a-big-thing-on-the-cre-agenda\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Healthy Buildings Should Be a Big Thing on the CRE Agenda"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Alexandra Pacurar<\/p>\n

\"alexandra_pacurar\"<\/a>Climate change, costs and human health are the key factors behind green building, but as the first two have dominated the development industry so far, it\u2019s now time to focus on the latter. Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health has made the subject of \u201chow buildings influence health\u201d the object of several studies, research programs and even courses. The results are relevant enough to make the key players in real estate stop and listen.<\/p>\n

According to Harvard research, human capital costs typically account for 90 percent of business operating costs, and most people spend 80-90 percent of their time indoors. Also, one of the health school\u2019s courses entitled \u201cBuilding for Health\u201d discusses the connection between the built environment and some of the public health concerns of society today\u2014from asthma to cancer and obesity.<\/p>\n

Therefore, the built environment has the potential to deeply impact a company\u2019s greatest asset\u2014people. Harvard\u2019s Center for Health and the Global Environment has launched the Nature, Health & the Built Environment program<\/a> aimed at providing well-documented information for those who influence the way buildings and cities are designed. This information is actually evidence-based research and recommendations for policymakers, public health officials, architects, urban planners, landscape designers and anyone who can make decisions in order to support our health and our planet\u2019s health.<\/p>\n

The research completed through this program shows that the quality of indoor spaces (temperature, humidity, noise, light, space, air quality) affects not only people\u2019s health, but also their productivity. One of Harvard\u2019s most recent studies shows that green buildings positively affect the cognitive function<\/a>. The results were quite impressive. As it turns out, cognitive scores were 61 percent higher for people that worked in green building conditions and 101 percent higher for those in enhanced green building conditions compared to people who worked in conventional buildings.<\/p>\n

The study concluded that \u201cgreen buildings design that optimizes employee productivity and energy usage will require adopting energy efficient systems and informed operating practices to maximize the benefit to human health while minimizing energy consumption.\u201d Similar studies have also been conducted by other prestigious academic institutions such as Cornell University.<\/p>\n

One of the most popular recommendations in connection to this subject is ensuring a regular access to nature by including natural elements in a building\u2019s design. This can mean green walls, waterscaping or interior green patches. This alone is thought to help us think more clearly, reduce stress levels and improve our general physical health.<\/p>\n

In a recent conversation with Sara Neff, senior vice president at Kilroy Realty Corp., the top executive and green building advocate, explained that one of her long-term goals is making Kilroy an industry leader when it comes to health. Neff is responsible for making Kilroy the most sustainable real estate company in North America. This title has been officially awarded to the company by GRESB three years in a row, starting in 2014. \u201cWe will be even more focused on health, because I believe that people think about the food they eat\u2014we care a lot about the ingredients in our food\u2014but our buildings have a huge impact on our health and I don\u2019t think people notice,\u201d Neff said. Neff is confident that the consumer market will react to this soon. \u201cI think it\u2019s starting now. We have important studies on this coming out, especially out of Harvard. I hope I will be on the forefront of, for example, giving tenants real time monitoring of their indoor air quality, really optimizing temperature and conditions and that sort of thing,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

While green building is still far away from being the standard in real estate development, it is believed to be a more and more common demand and requirement coming from clients everywhere in the world. Still, there is no need to wait for standards to be re-established and consider health as a major factor for further projects. Commercial or otherwise.<\/p>\n

\"Infographic-green-build-harvard\"<\/a>

Click on image to enlarge.<\/p><\/div>\n

Infographic courtesy of Harvard<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As developers are investing more and more in green building, those that are already in the front lines of sustainability are taking on a new challenge: healthy walls.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":236,"featured_media":1004507767,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39372],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1004212236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cpe-blog"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Healthy Buildings Should Be a Big Thing on the CRE Agenda - Commercial Property Executive<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/why-healthy-buildings-should-be-a-big-thing-on-the-cre-agenda\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Healthy Buildings Should Be a Big Thing on the CRE Agenda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As developers are investing more and more in green building, those that are already in the front lines of sustainability are taking on a new challenge: healthy walls.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/why-healthy-buildings-should-be-a-big-thing-on-the-cre-agenda\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Commercial Property Executive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CPExecutive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-02-21T08:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-12-09T04:39:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2021\/03\/alexandra_pacurar.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"612\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"612\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alexandra Both\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cpexecutive\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@cpexecutive\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/why-healthy-buildings-should-be-a-big-thing-on-the-cre-agenda\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/why-healthy-buildings-should-be-a-big-thing-on-the-cre-agenda\/\",\"name\":\"Why Healthy Buildings Should Be a Big Thing on the CRE Agenda - 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