Zirve Eki - ISTANBUL REstate

Jonathan Roberts: I think that, I mean Edward put his finger
on, that is a question of how long he sees himself investing in a
particular building or project. So, if it is for the short term, I guess
these issues would be related to the sales side of it. If it is slightly
longer term, then you can take a long term view because he is
taking advantage of the cost savings that Edward is mentioning.
So, I think that is a point of view he would approach it from. One
of the things he does always go on about is the presentation side.
I think these are the two sides of the presentation. This is one that
Mr. Hakan was showing here great imagination; something obviously
very different and interesting. On the other side is actually the hard
figures. And he likes to see something on a PowerPoint presentation
for five or four pages. He even challenges me sometimes. So, I
suppose there is the two sides to it. One is the creative side one
is the business side. And mostly it is the business because he tends
to be stronger on the business side obviously. But that's no reason
why they can't connect with the creative people either, and I'm
in the middle of that game, sometimes trying to bring them together
where something can actually be done.
Edward Mayer: Yeah, I mean put the construction network
that we are developing in Saudi Arabia. We take these functions,
these processes or these features such as screens or louvers to
work with a lighting, to reduce solar heat came of the building.
Because the greatest loss, the greatest loss of energy in the building
is the heating of the building or the cooling of the building. And
in a place like Riyadh, the sun is what is going to be creating the
worst on your building. Now you don't want to just create punched
windows that are so small that you get no light within the space.
Because then what we are creating is a lower quality of life. So
light is a very important part of life and that is very important to
LEED also. It is not just about being sustainable in terms of the
energy but also being a higher quality of life. So by using these
louvers, you can then arrange these louvers in a very aesthetic way
and now your are combining both the art as well as the technology
in developing the building. So that you are not just merely creating
a building that is LEED efficient technologically but as well as
aesthetically pleasing. And basically the whole idea about form
follows function where that the form of the building now is actually
expressing its function, expressing how it is working and what is
it doing. And that is one of the things that we envisioned trying
to develop in all of our architecture as well as with the client is
expecting the architecture within the King Abdullah Financial
District to express.
Jonathan Roberts: I am going to say. I mean I guess the actual
productivity; the output of the building is a critical part of it, isn't
it? If the spaces inspiring and then what is produced by the business
is all the people are living inside.One's hope is inspiring and that
in itself leads to profitability in everything which is what your
investor wants. So, I can see how it all fits around. The actually
technical side it , obviously, I'm not an expert, I am listening very
intently because it moves very fast I think, like a lot of these modern
sort of areas. These new things happening all the time. So it is
hard enough for someone like me. These are, you know, not a
specialist area to keep up but it sounds pretty impressive.
Edward Mayer: Yes, I mean this, actually studies on commercial
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buildings where they find that office workers who work within a
sustainable building are actually more efficient than people who
work in non sustainable building, non LEED building so to speak.
So that is another incentive when we work with it, because we
also have interior design branch. We were doing interior design,
the goal to create these buildings that are also LEED or LEED
certified interiors that you can actually have a commercial building
that is LEED certified, that is a better quality of life, that creates
better quality of environment for the workforce. So people come
in. They take less sick days because of the VOC's are come out of
the painter or whatever other products that we are using. This is
simple things within all of the LEED guidelines to create that better
quality of life as well as reducing our energy footprint.
Bar›fl Onay: So, Edward I wanna ask you one more thing. I was
just browsing through your website, FXFOWLE and I was just
looking through the people. And I have seen that like 90% of the
people has got a LEED AP.
Edward Mayer: Yes.
Bar›fl Onay: And, so basically, I assume that the amount of work
that you are commissioned, how much of it would you just define
as LEED sustainable or it has to be green? How much of your
clients are asking you to build green?
Edward Mayer: We design all our buildings with the idea of
being LEED certified, however the cost of having it LEED certified
is a question where the client whether wants to carry this certification.
But all of the buildings that we do would need LEED certification.
Because LEED certified isn't merely just building; the building, the
designing the building to be LEED certified is also certain process
which we require from a third party from the design stage through
the construction stage. So that's for a lot of the cost cuts occur not
just because merely you are building up, building them with the
LEED guidelines, but you are certifying it. So this certification process
is another expense that is above and beyond the actual building
cost.
Bar›fl Onay: Exactly. I mean that is a problem here that we face
in Turkey as well, because we are just in the middle of beginning
phase of having a more sustainable construction, let's say, seen here.
So basically everybody, yes, must to go green somehow, but when
you come to certify it, there is no legal setup ready here in Turkey
right now, let's say, a voluntary certification just like LEED. So if you
do want to build green, yes, you can go ahead and do it, but if you
want to certify it, that is another thing. So could you just tell about
what is happening in New York? I mean, how many of the clients
would go for certification, how many of them wouldn't?
Edward Mayer: I would have to say about 60 to 80 percent. I
would say it is roughly more than half. Maybe I wouldn't say a
hundred percent but I would say it is about almost three quarters
of the clients because they understand that by certifying it, you are
then putting a marker on it for other people to recognize. And it
becomes a selling point in terms of that.
Bar›fl Onay: All right. So, now I am gonna move on to Murat
Bey. Murat Bey, he is coming from the ministry that deals with
construction in Turkey, because he is going to talk about a legal
certification that now you need to have for new developments in
Turkey.