Real estate capital flows and transitional economies

reign real estate capital was a major source of financing domestic property market office construction in Central Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. During the 1990s, over 800 office buildings were either newly constructed or refurbished in Budapest, Prague and Warsaw. The primary focus of this analysis is explaining the spatial construction and redevelopment patterns of the post-1989 office buildings in these cities. Secondarily, we analyze the correlation of foreign direct investment flows to annual construction of office buildings. We seek to explain the location of new or refurbished office buildings in the central business district (CBD) or in non-CBD locations in terms of the effect of time, size of property and other variables, and test whether there is a positive correlation relationship of foreign direct investment flows and new office construction or refurbishment. Integrating relevant foreign direct investment (FDI), economic geography and property theories in the research, the authors attempt to bridge existing gaps in the literature

High quality indoor environments for sustainable office buildings

The quality of office indoor environments is considered to consist of those factors that impact occupants according to their health and well-being and (by consequence) their productivity. Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ) can be characterized by four indicators: • Indoor air quality indicators • Thermal comfort indicators • Lighting indicators • Noise indicators. Within each indicator, there are specific metrics that can be utilized in determining an acceptable quality of an indoor environment based on existing knowledge and best practice. Examples of these metrics are: indoor air levels of pollutants or odorants; operative temperature and its control; radiant asymmetry; task lighting; glare; ambient noise. The way in which these metrics impact occupants is not fully understood, especially when multiple metrics may interact in their impacts. While the potential cost of lost productivity from poor IEQ has been estimated to exceed building operation costs, the level of impact and the relative significance of the above four indicators are largely unknown. However, they are key factors in the sustainable operation or refurbishment of office buildings. This paper presents a methodology for assessing indoor environment quality (IEQ) in office buildings, and indicators with related metrics for high performance and occupant comfort. These are intended for integration into the specification of sustainable office buildings as key factors to ensure a high degree of occupant habitability, without this being impaired by other sustainability factors. The assessment methodology was applied in a case study on IEQ in Australia’s first ‘six star’ sustainable office building, Council House 2 (CH2), located in the centre of Melbourne. The CH2 building was designed and built with specific focus on sustainability and the provision of a high quality indoor environment for occupants. Actual IEQ performance was assessed in this study by field assessment after construction and occupancy. For comparison, the methodology was applied to a 30 year old conventional building adjacent to CH2 which housed the same or similar occupants and activities. The impact of IEQ on occupant productivity will be reported in a separate future pape

Empty spaces: are Texas office markets on the road to recovery?

Real property ; Office buildings

The relevance of lean thinking to sustainable improvement of public office buildings in Nigeria

This study looked into the relevance of lean thinking, particularly the application of muda as a supplement to the sustainable improvement diagnosis technique of existing office buildings, for a fuller assessment of user's requirement in Nigeria. The impact of muda as related to the triple bottom line of sustainable development on perceived job productivity and design features was estimated from end-user's perspective, using diagnostic POE as data acquiring tool while the confirmatory analysis was done through AMOS, SPSS and MS Excel to explain the relationship between the different variables. The findings showed that muda is inherent in public office buildings and it has highly significant causal effects of 0.66 and 0.76, respectively on perceived job productivity and design features; it also has strong effect sizes of 44 and 58% in explaining both their variances, respectively. The result revealed that users require more improvement in facilities as against spatial plan and structures while there is a medium and positive correlation of 0.48 between perceived job productivity and design features implying that the improvement of one will consequently lead to the improvement of the other. The study concludes that lean thinking is relevant to building improvement and could serve as good supplement to the current improvement diagnosis of existing public office buildings but not as a substitute since data were only collected from users who are not able to provide the required technical data that would otherwise warrant use of equipment

Real Estate Capital Flows and Transitional Economies

Foreign real estate capital was a major source of financing domestic property market office construction in Central Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.  During the 1990s, over 800 office buildings were either newly constructed or refurbished in Budapest, Prague and Warsaw.  The primary focus of this analysis is explaining the spatial construction and redevelopment patterns of the post-1989 office buildings in these cities.  Secondarily, we analyze the correlation of foreign direct investment flows to annual construction of office buildings.  We seek to explain the location of new or refurbished office buildings in the central business district (CBD) or in non-CBD locations in terms of the effect of time, size of property and other variables, and test whether there is a positive correlation relationship of foreign direct investment flows and new office construction or refurbishment. Integrating relevant foreign direct investment (FDI), economic geography and property theories in the research, the authors attempt to bridge existing gaps in the literature.Transitional Economies, Office Construction, Foreign Direct Investment, Capital Flows

Preserving our past: who should bear the cost of history?

When a modern architectural treasure is also the site of an ongoing business, how do we decide whether to preserve the past or make way for the future?Office buildings

Green Municipal Building Ordinances

In 2006 the town of Babylon, NY adopted a local law that requires LEED certification for “new construction of commercial buildings, office buildings, industrial buildings, multiple residence, or senior citizen multiple residence over 4,000 square feet”. As an incentive, the town will refund certification fees paid by developers if a new project achieves LEED status

Office building boom and bust

Office buildings ; Real property ; Property tax

Influence of filtration on I/O particle concentration ratios at urban office buildings

Epidemiological research has consistently shown an association between fine and ultrafine particle concentrations, and increases in both respiratory and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. These particles, often found in vehicle emissions outside buildings, can penetrate inside via their envelopes and mechanically ventilated systems. Indoor activities such as printing, cooking and cleaning, as well as the movement of building occupants are also an additional source of these particles. In this context, the filtration systems of mechanically ventilated buildings can reduce indoor particle concentrations. Several studies have quantified the efficiency of dry-media and electrostatic filters, but they mainly focused on the particle size range > 300 nm. Some others studied ultrafine particles but their investigations were conducted in laboratories. At this point, there is still only limited information on in situ filter efficiency and an incomplete understanding of filtration influence on I/O ratios of particle concentrations. To help address these gaps in knowledge and provide new information for the selection of appropriate filter types in office building HVAC systems, we aimed to: (1) measure particle concentrations at up and down stream flows of filter devices, as well as outdoor and indoor office buildings; (2) quantify efficiency of different filter types at different buildings; and (3) assess the impact of these filters on I/O ratios at different indoor and outdoor source operation scenarios