Its quality that matters

Offices South India, the one day conference and networking opportunity organized by Property World and UBM at ITC Royal Gardenia, Bangalore recently, saw leading developers,  private equity investors, prominent office space occupiers, green experts discuss and debate the future of Office Space in India, and more specifically in South India. 
 
The five panel discussions encompassed the whole gamut of issues ranging from the importance of quality, pricing and location in driving a success model, to the need for  developers to become sensitive to changing occupier needs, the role of technology and talent as major drivers in office space, besides green buildings being the only option going forward.    
 
The key takeaways were that developers and occupiers need to work together to create better buildings with world class amenities, tuned to changing employee needs. Private equity investments would allow for office space investments to be attractive propositions. Green makes business sense as it allows for 14 to 16 per cent increase in productivity. 
 
The three cities of South India- Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai constitute 50 per cent of the demand for Office space  in the Indian real estate market.and the next 12-24 months will see the supply increase dramatically.  
 
While location, quality and pricing  will no doubt drive the business of the building, the design of the building including green design, ownership, optimum usage of space, floor efficiency, provision of power, HVAC are equally important. Every value add comes with a pricing but at the end of the day it is also a question as to where demand and supply will settle.    
 
Quality will have to be a major factor. Developers need to move from building and selling to building and holding. Signing the contract should be the beginning of a relationship; right product and services will further the demand. Quality in maintenance, value for the product you can demonstrate are important factors. Office developments are continuous investments, commitment to tenants, giving them all the amenities,  maintaining the relationship are important to sustain it.
 
 
Developers, said Syed Muhammad Beary, Chairman and MD, Bearys Group, need to take the lead to form a think tank, and look at developments not in isolation but in terms of creating supporting infrastructure in that area. They also have a larger responsibility going beyond purely developing office space to looking at the future impact of the development on the environment and the people living in that area.      
 
Office projects are typical long gestation projects and private equity is the only way to do these developments. M Murali, MD, Sriram Group remarked on the need to do away with flyby night operators who have spoilt the market. The real estate bill, land title bill, corporate governance, long term funding of projects, would make all the difference to this segment and enable more serious developers to participate. 
 
The session on “Workplace of the Future” saw  discussions on the role of design, technology and talent as future drives of office space. Aamer Azeemi, Senior Director, CISCO Smart Connected communities spoke of  the role of  IT in enabling a seamless office.  
 
Srinidhi Anantharaman, CEO, Geodesic Techniques Ltd said the day and age had come for steel buildings. Explaining the decided advantages of a  steel building over a conventional building he said such buildings allow for increased carpet area, larger signage area, lighter foundations,  faster construction translating to lower interest costs. Thus integrated design, optimum lifecycle costs, quality assurance all together ensure these buildings allow for an edge in today’s competitive market.  
 
The green session saw interesting presentations by K Raghupathy , Head , Indian Green Building Council. He pointed out that conventional buildings being very resource intensive, we need to go in for green and energy efficient buildings. Green makes business sense, as it provides 60 per cent savings. More importantly such buildings allow for 14 to 16 per cent increase in productivity. This meant huge savings in IT firms, where talent drives huge salaries.
 
Architect Dr Sujit Kumar pointed out that energy efficiency should begin at the design stage itself. In the absence of this  we are seeing the phenomenon of  correcting the mistakes made at inception, through the life of the building. Hence owners, developers, architects, consultants need to work together as a team at the planning stage itself.
 
India is second to United States in the number of green buildings coming up, thanks to the leadership role of developers. We have moved from 20,000 sq ft to 1127 green buildings, of 730 million sq ft, said K Raghupathy. 
 
Only commitment and responsibility on the part of developers, architects/ designers and occupiers can take the green building movement forward. We should in future make strides towards green cities.