Sustainable office buildings to lead MM office market

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Property consultancy Colliers said healthy and sustainable office space will play a crucial role in stoking demand in the Metro Manila office sector starting this year.

“Green, healthy, and sustainable office space will likely dominate new office supply in Metro Manila from 2025 to 2027,” Colliers said in a report dated Dec. 29, 2024.

In the report, Colliers estimated there are about 2.6 million square meters (sq.m.) of vacant office space in Metro Manila as of the third quarter of last year.

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From 2025 to 2027, Colliers said it projects about 61 percent of the new supply in Metro Manila will have green building certifications. That is about 722,000 sq.m. of the 1.2 million sq.m. of new office space in Metro Manila from 2025 to 2027.

Colliers added these spaces will have green building certifications that is, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) or WELL. 

LEED primarily focuses on the environmental performance of buildings, whereas WELL emphasizes the health and well-being of the occupants. LEED operates on a point-based system to assess and reward the attainment of credits, while WELL uses a threshold-based approach to ensure feature compliance.

Citing internal data, Colliers said for the first nine months of 2024, nearly half of office transactions in Metro Manila were in green-certified buildings.

Explore green building certifications 

Developers may also explore green building certifications such as LEED or Building for Ecologically Responsive Design Excellence (BERDE) for their projects.

“Aside from providing safe and healthy office spaces, landlords should also help tenants entice more employees to report on-site by highlighting their buildings’ amenities and other value-added features,” Colliers said.

These features include lower density ratios, curtain wall systems with thermal insulations, touchless access in elevators, vertical gardens, UV disinfection lifts and filtered air circulation systems to ensure a healthy and efficient workplace for traditional and outsourcing occupiers, Colliers added.

“Developers should also explore ways to differentiate themselves in the market amid a move to adopt green and sustainable offices. In our opinion, the incorporation of green and sustainable features will play an important role in occupier retention and attraction strategies post-COVID,” said Joey Bondoc, head of research at Colliers and principal author of the report.

Colliers said most of the green and sustainable buildings likely to be completed during the period will come from Makati Fringe, Ortigas Fringe and Quezon City. These include Innoland Altaire, Araneta Cyberpark Tower 3, SM North EDSA Towers 4 & 5, GBF Center Tower 2 and The Yuchengco Center.

“As employers start to welcome workers back to the office, we recommend that landlords offer spaces that protect their employees’ health and well-being,” Bondoc said.

In Colliers Philippines’ September 2022 report titled, Forging Smarter and Greener Buildings, the property consultancy highlighted that property developers are increasingly taking steps to address climate change by “embracing available advanced technologies.”

In that report, Colliers said developers are taking advantage of the globally recognized green building certifications to reduce their properties’ environmental impact and to satisfy occupiers’ Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) standards. 

The December 2024 report confirms this, according to Colliers.

Colliers said the future of office buildings leans towards developing spaces which are safer, healthier and are less harmful to the environment. 

Colliers added some discerning occupiers prefer or require ESG certified office space. 

Landlords should be proactive in capturing this demand. 

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