New York, N.Y. — Turner Construction Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Turner Corporation, the nation's leading general builder, announced on Sept. 15 the findings of its survey of 719 building owners, developers, architects, engineers and consultants on green building issues. The on-line survey was conducted by Bayer Consulting during July 2004. For the purposes of the survey, green buildings were defined as buildings that use design and construction practices to significantly reduce or eliminate negative effects on the environment and occupants.

In the coming three years, 93 percent of executives working with green buildings expect their green workload to rise. More than half (51 percent) of them anticipated substantial increases in their green building activities while another 42 percent expected these activities to increase somewhat. Even among executives not currently working with green buildings, nearly one-third (30 percent) thought it was very or extremely likely that their organization would work on a green project in the next three years. The survey also found that 88 percent of executives currently involved with green buildings have seen their activities with green buildings increase during the last three years, and nearly 40 percent have seen green activity increase substantially during that period.

“An increase in sustainable building practices is great news for everyone,” said Rod Wille, Senior Vice President, Manager of Sustainable Construction, Turner Construction. “First and foremost, the design, construction and maintenance of green buildings is healthier for the environment and for the people who live, work, shop and play in them. Secondly for those who design, construct and maintain green buildings, research shows that the more experience an organization has with green buildings, the more effective and cost efficient they become. These findings are also borne out by the fact that LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) registrations double every two years.”

Roughly three-quarters of executives at organizations involved with green buildings reported that these buildings generated a higher return on investment (ROI) than other buildings.

Of executives involved with green buildings, 91 percent believed that the health and well-being of their building occupants is greater, as did 78 percent of executives not involved with green buildings. Another gap existed among executives at organizations involved with green buildings. Sixty-five percent of executives involved with six or more green buildings said the residents or occupants of green buildings enjoy much greater health and well-being, compared to 49 percent of executives involved with three to five green buildings and 39 percent of executives involved with only one or two green buildings.

“With many decision-makers, a near-term cost bias often overshadows the reduced long-term operating expenses due to energy efficiency, labor productivity, occupant wellness and the resulting decrease in liability that are apparent in a lifecycle cost analysis for a green building project,” Wille said. “Turner has learned through nearly 10 years of experience on more than 80 green buildings that the application of learned efficiencies can more than offset any upfront costs of green buildings to a level comparable to traditional, non-sustainable methods. Beyond the important environmental, social and energy conservation factors, it is now increasingly clear that green buildings make economic sense.”

According to the survey, executives at firms involved with more green buildings were far more likely to report that ongoing costs of green buildings were much lower than those of non-green buildings.

The survey found that the largest obstacles to widespread adoption of green building techniques are perceived higher construction costs (by 70 percent of all executives), a general lack of awareness regarding the benefits of green buildings (by 63 percent of all executives) and short-term budget horizons (by 53 percent of all executives). Eighty percent of all executives said that green buildings repay any additional upfront costs through lower operating costs and other benefits.

When asked to compare a list of benefits generated by green buildings with those generated by non-green buildings, a significant percentage of executives said that green buildings outperform non-green buildings in the following categories:

- Greater health and well-being of occupants (86 percent)
- Higher building value (79 percent)
- Higher worker productivity (76 percent)
- Higher return on investment (63 percent)
- Higher asking rents (62 percent)
- Higher occupancy rates (52 percent)
- Higher retail sales (40 percent)

“The survey uncovers a misperception about the initial costs of green buildings on behalf of the inexperienced,” said Wille. “Executives who have little or no experience working with green buildings believe up-front costs are higher, ROI is farther into the future, and energy and natural resource savings are lower. Beyond these measures, many underestimate the human reactions to these projects — that is, productivity enhancements, higher occupancy rates and asking rents, and increased retail sales.”

A comparison of the perceptions among executives with experience in green buildings versus those who have not worked with green buildings shows that while many benefits are understood, the extent to which they affect the bottom line is not. Although a February 2003 U.S. Green Building Council white paper says that LEED certification can be achieved with as little as 2 percent premium, executives involved in green buildings on average estimated green construction costs to be 14 percent higher while executives not involved with green buildings estimated construction costs at 20 percent higher. Still, 80 percent or more of each group believed that green buildings repay these perceived higher construction costs through lower operating costs and other benefits.

Turner Construction Company has partnered with Toyota to develop a LEED Gold Certified building in Torrance, Calif., that cost no more than traditional construction. The Toyota Motor Sales - South Campus building is 636,000 square feet on a 38-acre site and features 53,000 square feet of rooftop photovoltaic panels that can generate 550 kilowatts of electricity — or about 20 percent of total energy usage. Its first cost was competitive with the cost of other local, non-sustainable office buildings.