‘The Outlook’ to highlight sustainability in real estate

What makes a building green? What makes a real estate project sustainable? Most importantly, how can a developer ensure that its building is built and operated in a sustainable manner?

These are just some of the questions that Lamudi, the Philippines’ leading real estate portal, aims to answer in an upcoming event dubbed The Outlook—a coming together for the real estate community leadership to discuss the findings of a nationwide survey of 10,000 Filipino property seekers.

Partnership

As The Outlook is an event that focuses on sharing ideas from the real estate industry’s leadership, it is but fitting for Lamudi to partner with Ramon D. Rufino, chair of both the Philippine Green Building Council (PhilGBC) and Urban Land Institute (ULI) Philippines, and co-president of The Net Group, one of the country’s most well-known developers of green office towers.

“It was a struggle [at the start] to build that awareness and education [about building green and sustainability]. But over the years, we’ve noticed a very good growth momentum. In fact, when you look around, a lot of new buildings are undergoing green building certification,” according to Rufino.

What’s good about this positive reception is that even those building that aren’t undergoing certification are incorporating green building principles in how their properties are designed, built, and operated, Rufino added.

“Partly it’s the market that wants it. A lot of these tenants and locators are the multinationals who demand these features in the buildings.”

LGU support

Building green is starting to become part of local legislation as well.

“Many [LGUs] now understand that green building is so important for the sustainability of our future that they are now including mandatory requirements,” Rufino said. “Before it was all voluntary; now there are both voluntary and mandatory requirements for owners and developers to go green.”

According to Lamudi, The Outlook will be a great opportunity for the real estate industry’s leadership to learn from the experience of The Net Group, and the expertise of PhilGBC and ULI Philippines in building green and sustainability.

Property trends

Aside from Rufino, experts and leaders from across the industry will gather to discuss what’s next for the real estate sector. Among the topics to be discussed include trends in mixed-use developments, affordable housing, and infrastructure development.

The Outlook will also highlight the results of the nationwide survey of 10,000 property seekers conducted by Lamudi this year.

“We’re very excited about the results of this survey, as it will be the first where actual property-seekers were asked about their opinion of the real estate industry,” Lamudi Managing Director Bhavna Suresh Chathambeth said.

The real estate players and projects cited by the survey respondents’ as the industry’s best will be acknowledged at the event on November 16, which will be held at the New World Makati.