Feasibility Analysis of Converting Existing Low-Rise Office Buildings to Green Rated Buildings in Sri Lankan Context

Green buildings concept is gaining popularity all over the world as the sustainability and efficient energy management are becoming essential requirements during both construction and operational phases of buildings. Adaptation of green concepts, especially for new constructions, was started to practice by local designers and owners during the last few decades. However, conversion of existing buildings to Green buildings is still extremely rare in local context. Misconceptions relevant to conversion costs, lack of awareness relevant to the conversion methodologies and lack of knowledge on benefits of conversions would be probable reasons for this. Also, no previous studies on this matter are available in Sri Lankan context. Accordingly, this study was focused on assessing existing green features of a few selected existing low-rise office buildings (which were not originally designed as Green buildings) and analysing challenges, associated costs and benefits of converting these buildings to green rated buildings. A detailed study by selecting few existing buildings was carried out as per the Green rating assessment of Green Building Council of Sri Lanka (GBCSL). Based on the results of the study, it was found that Green scores under existing conditions of these buildings were very poor. Hence, a strategic approach to elevate these buildings to Green certified buildings was developed, while proposing an average unit rate for calculation of conversion costs that would be useful for estimations at the preliminary planning stage for this type of conversions.