May 18 2007
McGraw-Hill Construction, part of The McGraw-Hill Companies, in conjunction with Turner Construction Company, U.S. Green Building Council and Johns Manville, today released core findings of its study on green building in the healthcare construction sector.
The major findings in the study included:
- Green healthcare facilities reduce energy use, thus reducing green house gasses and improving air quality
- 47% of respondents said that patient recovery time is reduced in green buildings
- Other benefits include lower operating costs, greater innovation and public relations benefits
The survey clearly shows that there is an increasing trend toward building green healthcare facilities. Of the survey respondents, 19% said they expect that their organization will be significantly involved with green building in 2008 -- more than triple the level for 2007.
"The numbers are encouraging," explains Harvey M. Bernstein, McGraw-Hill Construction vice president of Industry Analytics, Alliances and Strategic Initiatives. "Despite the obstacles, 60% of respondents see green building as transforming the healthcare construction sector, and by next year, a fifth of the survey respondents expect that they will be highly dedicated (more than 30% of their projects) to building green healthcare facilities."
Turner Construction Company, co-sponsor of the research and the nation's leading green builder, is encouraged by the survey respondents' acceptance of the benefits of green. "We're seeing a growing consensus that green building brings improvements. Green buildings reduce the amount of energy used and thus reduce the impact buildings have on the environment. In fact, over two-thirds acknowledge energy use is reduced by over 10%," states Michael Deane, operations manager, Sustainable Construction, Turner Construction Company at Turner. "With the high level of energy use in healthcare facilities, a reduction in energy use can have a significant impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Despite a perception of a high cost of building green, Turner's experience has found that on average the true incremental costs for green building healthcare facilities are less than 1%."
Also, the study found that benefits to patient health and recovery times are an essential part of a healthcare facility's decision to go green. "It's clear that the perceived additional cost premium obstacle will be eroded by the overwhelming benefits of green," says Bernstein. "When 91% of a sample tell you patient well-being is an important reason to build green, 58% tell you it's the most important reason, and 47% say that patients recover faster in green buildings, it is clear that improved well-being is an important finding that the market cannot afford to ignore if we are going to accelerate green building in this sector."
These research finding and others from the landmark study will be incorporated into the Healthcare Green Building SmartMarket Report, the latest edition of MHC's SmartMarket Report(TM) series, to be released over the next month. Sponsored by Johns Manville, that report will review the data and provide context behind it. "We thought this data was very compelling," states James Pickren, director of Commercial Marketing, Building Products Group, for Johns Manville. "It sends the important message that we at Johns Manville have been focusing on -- that the performance of our buildings and the products that go in them are critical to the well-being of the building occupants, and this is especially important in healthcare facilities."
The survey of senior healthcare and hospital administrators was collected online from January - February 2007, with a total of 95 respondents. The qualitative findings point to underlying opinions and trends motivating and influencing green building in the healthcare construction sector. Survey respondents were geographically diverse, with nearly equal numbers urban, suburban and rural. Twenty-eight percent were c-level executives.