Green paragon

Swegon business development director Carl Tobisson

To what extent does the green performance of a building influence the purchase decision?

The launch of Sheikh Mohammed’s green building initiative at the end of 2007 was the first step towards changing the criteria so that people pay more attention to energy-efficient and green building solutions. Such solutions are on their way to being at the forefront of people’s minds. There is a slow move away from building fast, cheap and then selling.

How should developers take an interest in the lifespan of a building?

There must be some kind of education. There are two types of investors, namely owners and speculators. Owners are going to pay the bills for energy, water and so on. The problem is with speculative buyers. When somebody else is paying the bills, it is not so easy. We must remember that, if you have a LEED-certified building, you can get more money out of it, which remains an advantage, even for speculative investors.

How have you encouraged clients to pay the premium for green building?

We are showing our customers that you have to look at the long-term costs. You have the investment cost, the running cost and the maintenance cost. The running and maintenance costs stay with the building its entire lifespan. What we are trying to indicate is that you have to look at the pointers – not only at investment, but the life-cycle cost.

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The recession could help in some ways. People will be more discerning. Before, everybody could build and sell. But now the market should be more stable, as opposed to people simply looking to build fast and sell. That’s why Sheikh Mohammed’s green proclamation was a big step. Someone has to take the lead, or practical steps will never be taken.

What health benefits are to be gained from using Swegon in hotels?

The first thing that comes to my mind would be the silent cooling. When most people stay in hotel rooms, they can hear the fan coil unit (FCU) operating. And also there is the draught element that can keep people awake. Those are two key areas that need to be addressed. The other one would be the risk of bacterial growth.

Our system operates above the dew point, whereas other systems operate below the dew point. This means you need to have a tray under the FCU, and you need to lead the water away. As it is a wet system and there is dust present in the room, you need to clean this unit carefully. Bacterial growth is one area where there is a definite higher risk.

What our system does is, first of all, with the Gold handling unit, it has filters that obviously filter and dehumidify the air. So the system supplies primary air that is filtered. This is not a problem if you require a normal supply of air. Also, you need to have the right amount of air exchanged.

In addition, you have emissions from carpets and walls, for example, and this is dealt with by the extract air and ventilation. We would never recommend switching a system off completely and not having exchange of air in the room.