Renting in converted green buildings : exploratory study on office tenants views

Abstract

PURPOSE : Greening the existing stock of non-green office buildings in South Africa is a significant challenge faced by the local green industry. This study evaluated the opinions of tenants of nongreen office buildings in Gauteng, South Africa on renting green office space in existing office buildings. METHODOLOGY : This report builds on a previous study by Hoffman & Pedregal1 on the opinions and believes of Gauteng office tenants on converting existing office buildings into Green Star SA certified buildings. Data was acquired with a Likert-scale based questionnaire completed by 32 randomly selected commercial office tenants from A-rated office buildings in Sandton, Rosebank and Centurion. FINDINGS : The study indicated that 81% of office tenants support knowledge about environmental sustainability but only 50% have green building strategies and only 22% are considering renting space in a converted Green Star SA certified office building soon. Small firms and recently established firms were much less supportive of green building practices. LIMITATIONS : A larger, more representative follow-up study is necessary to provide industry stakeholders with more authoritative findings. More specific information is required on what will persuade tenants to actively pursue green office space. VALUE : This study described the views of commercial office tenants regarding renting green office space offered in existing office buildings. Evidence was provided that supplying focussed information and education to office tenants may be an efficient way to stimulate demand for green office space