Real Estate Development, Value Assessments and Life Cycle Costs

Real estate is developed for users. The user’s priority is the optimized (functional) operation of core processes. This applies to the manufacturing industry as well as office users or, for example, families using housing estate. Buildings have thus, depending on the core processes of their users – living, office work, production – a level of efficiency. This level expresses the relation of consumed resources, e. g. energy, surface, air pollution and costs, to profit, in form of recreation for inhabitants or in form of increased benefits by augmented productivity of office users.

A sustainable development of real estate strives in all life cycle phases of buildings – from their design and construction to utilization and renewal to their demolition – at a minimization of energy and resource use as well as of the impact on nature. To maintain aims of the concept of sustainable building, the following criteria are obligatory: sustainable dealing with energetic resources, sustainable dealing with public goods (e. g. clean air), use of environmentally friendly construction material and in particular the respect of the environment and comfortableness of sustainable building operation.

The principal task of the economy is to manage scarcities. Therefore, sustainability of real estate development is an economic perspective. Costs and profits can create unique incentives to help start sustainable development. A higher market value of sustainable real estate compared to conventional real estate is a huge benefit towards the development of sustainable real estate. In addition to sustainable value maintenance and increase of real estate, the initial investment (production costs), future investment, such as for renovation, functionality of the object and low operational costs play an essential role.

Mentoring and consulting by the Chair of Construction Management and Real Estate Development, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Josef Zimmermann