Money a big deterrent to sustainable refurbishment
By Yanika Liew
It comes as no surprise that of all the barriers to sustainable refurbishment of Malaysia’s existing buildings, most of it comes down to the financial factor. From the joint management bodies to the developers and the residents, maintenance and refurbishment is a never-ending problem for all stakeholders.
Refurbishment is a costly endeavour, and most joint management bodies lack the resources to commit to sustainability when keeping up with maintenance is already a struggle. On the other hand, developers who do have the resources are unsure about the financial return on their sustainable investment.
“If I am concerned about the environment, I need to put in all this extra money into doing the proper refurbishment for my building, but because I am unable to guarantee, maybe guarantee is not the word, even be relatively sure that the money that I put in can translate into a better yield, a better rent or a better occupancy, I then naturally tend not to do it,” Rahim & Co International chief executive officer Siva Shanker said during the Sustainable Refurbishment of Existing Buildings roundtable.
In the mind of a property manager, he noted that there was no certainty in investing in sustainable refurbishment if it would not translate to future income.
