The Costs And Benefits-In-Use Of Environmentally Sustainable Buildings In Nigeria

Despite the worldwide acclamation for sustainable building, only three sustainable (green) buildings have been developed in Nigeria. This is ostensibly because many potential developers are unaware of whether the benefits-in-use of such developments outweigh the costs-in-use. The study investigated costs and benefits of sustainable relative to conventional buildings in Lagos, Nigeria with a view to providing information that could potentially enhance development of such buildings. The method was to administer questionnaire on architects, developers, quantity surveyors and valuers involved with the green buildings presently developed in Lagos in order to determine green features used; monetize the costs and benefits of incorporating these green features; and compare costs and benefits of green buildings relative to conventional buildings by means of Net Present Value analysis. The study found a variety of green features in use in green buildings in the study area including among others, solar panels, venting skylights, whole building ventilation systems and so on. The analysis of the present value of costs-in-use showed that the additional installation and annual running costs of including these green features increased building costs substantially over non-green building. The analysis also showed that with both green buildings and non-green building, costs in use exceeded benefits in use. However, the gap between costs and benefits of green buildings was much higher than the gap between costs and benefits of non-green buildings. The study concluded that as at the time of this study, the costs of green building still outweigh benefits, largely because of the exchange rate of the naira to the dollar. It was nevertheless suggested that this should not be a discouragement to potential future green development because there continues to be a worldwide decreasing trend in cost of green features.