Due to the increase in HVAC technologies, insulation methods, and digitization, modern integrated systems have expanded in efficiency and implementation potential. As a result, we now have the ability to create buildings that are highly automated and exponentially more operationally efficient than their traditional counterparts.
From the point of view of a development organization, these systems have the potential to boost ROI with a relatively low increase in initial investment. The way that these systems enhance a developer’s ROI is by leveraging quality for the future property owner, so in this article, we are going to discuss the different ways that these systems add value to a structure.
This is the seventh article in our ongoing series about high-performance commercial development projects. In this series, we will cover such topics as: the components and benefits of high-performance design, the effects that high-performance design has on your development organization, and the effects that it has on the final product. If you have found this article of use, you may like to take a look at the rest of the series.
Follow the shortcuts:
Part 1 – Real Estate Developers: The Keys to High-Performance Design
Part 2 – Why High-Performance Is the Future of Commercial Real Estate
Part 3 – The Value of Productivity in Your Retail Development Project
Part 4 – The Value of High-Performance Design in Residential Income Properties
Part 5 – The Impact of Sustainable Design in a Commercial Real Estate Development
Part 6 – Improving the Lifecycle of Commercial Developments with High-Performance Design
Part 7 – How Modern Systems Can Save Money to Real Estate Developers
Part 8 – The Value of Sustainable Design to a Real Estate Developer
Part 9 – Real Estate Developers: Sustainable Design Has Real Perks
Part 10 – The Future of Commercial Real Estate Developments: Sustainable Design?
Power efficiency
Between the higher quality materials, technology of the systems, and integration of sensors and systems in high-performance and sustainable buildings, the level of power efficiency goes through the roof in comparison the more traditional models. We’re still a little while from having perfect systems that do not leak energy at all and are considered masterpieces of engineering, but these systems are about as close as it gets in the public world.
Power efficiency means three things:
- The system draws less energy, meaning that the energy bill costs less. As we all know, commercial real-estate developments require a lot of resources to run, so any cut in costs through this method is well-appreciated.
- The structure is less wasteful, which is both an act of social responsibility and a method to acquire positive brand visibility.
- The systems run with a reduced load, which means that they don’t wear out as quickly.
These points lead us to our next section.
Maintenance
When a system is more efficient due to quality of materials and design, and it carries less of a load due to its efficiency, this means that it requires a fraction of the maintenance required by other systems. While the difference of initial costs may seem substantial at first glance, when considered against the lifetime cost of a building and the overall maintenance costs throughout the lifecycle of a building, these differences in costs become negligible compared to the operational savings.
Repairs
To compliment the last point – and almost entirely as a direct result of the last point – the cost of system repairs is reduced substantially when the quality of the systems themselves and the quality of their ability to work with one another is optimized.
Another valuable aspect of modern systems is that, due to the addition of sensors, the strategies used during repairing and maintaining the systems becomes much simpler than before. Instead of the classic ‘fix it when it breaks,’ or maintaining the systems after a certain amount of pre-set time, the sensors will pick up when a system is not performing at peak-efficiency, and a decision made to perform needed service.
Added value
As a final point, due to the increase in net income from incorporating high-quality features in operating a building, the existing costs can often be negated in contrast to the increase in ROI from the building itself.
