McKinley Hill Cyberpark goes green and smart

MANILA, Philippines - Going green is the smart way to work now and in the future for multinational and perhaps, even local companies.

This is the message of Megaworld Corp. – the country’s leading business process outsourcing (BPO) landlord – as it delivers the first of three LEED-registered towers in its 8 Campus Place BPO office project in McKinley Hill Cyberpark, Fort Bonifacio.

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a green building ratings program under the US Green Building Council or USGBC. It is the most widely used green building rating system worldwide.

This is the very first project of Megaworld to be submitted for LEED certification for the Core & Shell category, planning, designing and constructing three interconnected buildings with a total leasable floor area close to 30,000 sqm. All three towers are slated to be turned over within the year, with the last slated for December.

While 8 Campus Place boasts numerous green features as its three towers gun for a minimum LEED Silver certification, Megaworld and its LEED consultant, Barone International, are ultimately proud of five LEED criteria: site, water reduction, energy savings, materials and resources, and indoor environmental quality.

Before Megaworld turns over the building to its tenant, an independent third party commissioning agent, FAC LEEDership from Hong Kong, will coordinate efforts with Megaworld’s property management office and the tenant’s facility manager to ensure that the building is working properly and efficiently. This includes an assessment of the building’s semi-automated building management system or BMS – which is another green feature, by the way.

The BMS detects, for instance, whether carbon dioxide levels are running high in the afternoon. This will make workers drowsy. To counter this, the air conditioning unit will pump more oxygen, thereby making the staff productive once again.

Barone International president Dean Barone summarized why companies should look into green buildings such as 8 Campus Place: “Studies of green buildings have shown that employee productivity has been positively correlated to indoor environmental conditions, and shows increased performance when green principles have been applied. Electrical and water efficiencies included in green buildings contribute to substantial reductions in operational costs. Corporations are learning that money previously directed toward utility costs can now reduce their expenses to improve their competitiveness. The Philippines has the highest electricity costs in all of Asia and the energy efficiencies found in green buildings can contribute to a corporation’s bottom line.”

For his part, Megaworld first vice president for business development Jericho Go stated: “We are proud that Megaworld has taken a quantum leap in providing green offices to prospective multinational tenants that require green buildings for their operations as a corporate green mandate. We forecast a big demand for these green, and I should say, smart-saving buildings, so Megaworld will seriously consider developing more of these in the future.”

For more information on Megaworld’s upcoming green office projects, please visit www.megaworldcorp.com.