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REAL ESTATE review
DEVELOPMENTS MUST BE INTEGRATED INTO THE CITY Developers and architects are increasingly incorporating urban development elements into the design of commercial projects, which also need to be developed and managed according to the needs of the market in order for stake holders to make a return on their investments. By Gary J. Morrell The development process brings in environmental issues across different private and public market sectors relating to the look and feel of the city, its architecture, public and private transportation, access to amenities and proximity to residential areas. Sustainability accreditation organizations take these issues into account when making assessments. From a positive perspective, office developments are now being undertaken in urban locations that are more integrated into the wider city. The conventional wisdom is that staff who often work flexible hours prefer to be located in areas where they can utilize amenities and commute by public transportation or bike.
The evidence from the vacancy rates is that office staff have a clear preference for offices within the city. With the scarcity of labor and rising costs, office workplace accommodation is seen as a major element in the recruitment and retention of staff. Thus, a central requirement for a successful Budapest office project today is a development site with direct access to metro, train, bus and tram stations. This is also a requirement of third-party sustainability accreditation organizations. Further, new developments now include bicycle parking, changing facilities and electric car charging possibilities. Certification body LEED in its assessment criteria marks projects on the basis of density and connectivity,
The Ferenc Puskás Stadium (formerly the Népstadion or People’s Stadium) before it was demolished in 2016 to make way for the Puskás Aréna, currently still under construction. Commercial developers have complained that the large scale state project has sucked resources, especially labor, away from the rest of the market.
brownfield redevelopment, alternative transportation (public transport access, bicycle storage and changing facilities), protection and restoration of habitat and maximum open space provision. Rival organization BREEAM has the stated aim of enhancing the social value of a project in a given area while mitigating its environmental impact. According to it, transportation accreditation points encourage better access to sustainable means of transportation for building users. There is thus a focus on the access of public transport and other alternative transportation solutions that help reduce car journeys and therefore lower congestion and CO2 emissions over the life of a building. “Public and alternative transportation must be further improved in order to increase the air quality of the city. Budapest already has a very good public transport network, however, individual motorized transport [cars] is also continuously growing,” says Zsombor Barta, president of the Hungarian Green Building Council (HuGBC). “Therefore, public transportation must be prioritized, the attractiveness of this transportation must be increased further and alternative transportation must be further developed, as we still do not have a good enough quality bicycle lane network and efficient electric car charging points. Further, the city authority should put more efforts into improving air quality,
