Last month’s G8 summit in Germany generated the kind of publicity Americans like to see.
International headlines at last praised US president George Bush for agreeing to take more effective steps in tackling climate change.
Bush’s change in attitude is indicative of the “green” mood sweeping the US, and it was an overriding theme at this year’s ICSC Spring Convention in Las Vegas.
The green revolution that has taken grip so firmly in Europe has now, according to the retail developers, hit the US with gusto.
A dedicated Green Zone housed the latest innovations, while a Green Pavilion took centre stage between the two main exhibition halls Marks & Spencer was prominently featured.
International developers have been keen to talk about the greenness of their projects for the past couple of years.
Igor Shablovsky, managing partner of Russian development firm Macromir, which has five shopping centres in Russia, says all its projects are sustainable.
Shablovsky admits, however, that the sustainable laws in Russia actually come from the old communist regime.
“It was controlled by the state, and one of the few things left from that era is the importance of clean construction materials, and no building can be built out without proper testing on what damage it can do to the environment.”
Shablovsky admits that the tight regime, where many different permits have to be obtained before construction, and having to seek the input of special ecological experts from the state “is a big problem for developers”.
However, it is one that they are learning to cope with.
Aldar’s $10bn, 2,500ha Yas Island, in Abu Dhabi in the UAE, which is set to complete in 2009, was one of the main schemes showcased, and its sustainability was highlighted in a massive launch.
The mixed-use development will comprise residential and leisure space as well as 700 shops over three floors.
Ron Barrott, CEO of Aldar in Abu Dhabi, adds: “The Middle East has a reputation for not being green, but Abu Dhabi is environmentally aware. It is creating technology parks to develop energies looking at zero carbon emissions. This is high on the government’s agenda.”
However, the same cannot be said of the US government.
While developers are starting to use green elements, they are doing so on their own initiative or that of the state in which they are operating.
There is no federal law requiring them to go green.
“There hasn’t been that pressure,” says Bill Ross, vice-president of asset management for Forest City Commercial Group: “The US hates bureaucracy and government involvement in business, but the great thing is that the market is driving the environmental changes.”
He adds: “A lot of US companies are getting a hold of the main initiatives, and standards are being set.”
But he admits that the US is behind Europe.
Kevin Moss, senior vice-president of General Growth Properties, one of the US’s largest shopping centre owners with more than 200 malls, agrees.
“Although green is not a new concept for us, it’s just that we now want to bring the issue to the forefront.
There is a lot of education in the industry on how to build sustainable buildings and how to operate them.
“There’s a greater awareness in the US to be more sustainable and the customer is more educated. And all of these things build momentum.”
Forest City was one of the first major US developers to include sustainable features.
At its Northfield scheme in Denver, Colorado, it has been awarded a gold standard in Leadership in Environmental Energy and Design.
But, while US developers embrace sustainability, retailers are slower in coming around to the idea.
Ross says: “Many retailers that we find in our large shopping centres have not been pushing us hard on incorporating sustainable practices in our developments.”
“For them, it is a challenge to incorporate a high level of practices, for a few reasons.
They are leasing the space for a typical 10-year period, which limits their ability to make a return on any type of premium investment in HVAC equipment or space structural layout they are limited with what they can do in the space, from a structural standpoint and they still have to balance the consumer’s needs of having good lighting and being at a comfortable temperature.”
Ross believes that, despite some challenges for the retailers to incorporate sustainable practices within their smaller store space, he expects them to begin pushing developers harder on the “greenness” of centres, especially as consumers continue to grow in sensitivity to sustainability issues.
“Some retailers, such as Wal-Mart, are really taking a leadership position on the topic.
“They are changing their stores, pushing for limits on greenhouse gases, and are pushing goals back through their supply chain.
Target and Apple are two other companies that are making great strides.”
With the US starting to fall into line with the rest of the world, Barrott leaves some parting words of wisdom. “Inevitably,” he says, “green buildings will cost more to develop, but look at what you are saving – the planet.”
The American standard
Set up in the late 1990s, the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings.
LEED gives building owners and operators the tools they need to make an immediate and measurable impact on their buildings’ performance.
It promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognising performance in five areas of human and environmental health: sustainable-site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality.
There are more than 2,000 LEED certified projects in the US, most of which have been added in the past five years.
Source: US Green Building Council/Forest City
