The additional costs of building sustainable logistics centres are now being offset by other financial benefits, according to Robert Wilson, the European CEO of Prologis. 'The costs of environmentally friendly design features might be 2% to 4% higher than for a traditional logistics centre, but it is possible to gain a 3 to 6% rental premium. On top of that, we are finding that sustainable buildings lead to a higher occupancy rate of 2 to 3%.'
The additional costs of building sustainable logistics centres are now being offset by other financial benefits, according to Robert Wilson, the European CEO of Prologis. 'The costs of environmentally friendly design features might be 2% to 4% higher than for a traditional logistics centre, but it is possible to gain a 3 to 6% rental premium. On top of that, we are finding that sustainable buildings lead to a higher occupancy rate of 2 to 3%.'
Wilson was speaking Thursday during the Academic Circle session at the annual conference of the European Public Real Estate Association (EPRA) in Athens. Only ten years ago, the additional costs associated with developing a sustainable new building were 30% higher than for an ordinary building. 'The costs are falling and the payback time is increasing,' Watson added. Professor Tony Ciochetti from MIT predicted that the additional costs of sustainable buildings will fall further in the next two to three years to between 1% and to 1.5%.
See also our article on Prologis' launch of four new funds in the September issue of PropertyEU.
