Posted on October 13, 2017
A recent survey conducted by construction management firm Structure Tone found green building is still a major market differentiator, and employee wellness is increasingly important to tenants. Structure Tone sent its “Client Sustainability Survey” to a nonscientific sample of corporate real estate and facilities management professionals. Questions centered on participants’ opinions on third-party certification systems like LEED, challenges to building green and the newer pressures of wellness and climate change in the built environment. Findings indicated that 62 percent of respondents agreed that LEED is a valuable market differentiator, but cost is the primary barrier to adopting sustainable building practices. Over 80 percent of the respondents consider employee wellness essential to their retention and recruitment; more than 50 percent reported they plan to seek external expertise to incorporate wellness into their buildings.