RLC completes ‘green’ office tower

Gokongwei-led Robinsons Land Corp. on Thursday topped off the 20-storey “green” office building Tera Tower near the Ortigas Avenue and C-5 intersection in Quezon City, bringing to the property market its 11th office tower.

Tera Tower will have 34,500 square meters of gross leasable area (GLA) which will be turned over to tenants by the third quarter of 2015. Office space is now being contracted out by RLC to future tenants at a starting price of P650 per sqm a month, RLC general manager for office building division Faraday Go told reporters at the topping off ceremony on Thursday.

Topping off is a traditional rite held when the last beam is placed on a building to mark the completion of the main structure. After this, the developer will have to work on the interior finishing and the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems.

Go said this new office building—the first among the seven office buildings to rise at RLC’s eight-hectare master-planned development—would mostly target the business process outsourcing, call center and knowledge process outsourcing locators as well as host some office headquarters.

To date, RLC has about 280,000 sqms of GLA in its office portfolio spread across 10 buildings. The office segment contributes 9 percent to overall revenues of RLC. Occupancy rate is close to 100 percent for the mature office buildings.

The additional office space from Tera is seen to expand RLC’s portfolio by 12 percent. The tower is designed for space-efficiency, having a large typical office floor plate of about 2,250 sqms to accommodate more occupants. RLC has tapped property consulting firm Colliers International to be its exclusive agent in leasing the building.

“I think there’s a lot of opportunity in this area,” Go said, noting that the group was seeing “very strong” demand from potential tenants. He said Tera Tower was the first to be constructed by the group on this property to “make sure that we are able to maximize the opportunity.”

Go said the construction of the next tower would likely start in January next year.

Located along Ortigas Avenue and E. Rodriguez Jr. Avenue (C-5), it is expected to be a model facility given its eco-friendly design and construction process, and how it promotes the well-being of the building’s occupants and the environment.

Part of RLC’s pitch for Tera Tower are its prominent green attributes which the developer said would contribute to a sustainable future through cost-efficient and energy-saving green buildings.

Tera Tower is aiming for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) gold certification for core and shell structure under the US Green Building Council’s LEED green building program.

LEED, a globally recognized system, rates buildings in the areas of energy and water efficiency, indoor-air quality and usage of renewable materials.

Tera Tower is designed to have large windows with double glazed “low emissivity” glass to allow natural light into the building while blocking out noise and heat. This decreases the use of air-conditioning and office lighting, resulting in energy savings for the tenant.

The building will also have a rooftop garden with “non-invasive plants” in order to reduce the heat island effect. This green roof is envisioned to curb air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. The roof garden was also designed to collect rainwater that would be harvested in a special tank that would be used to irrigate the plants in the building. Doris C. Dumlao